I am in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho this week for a family reunion. This place is beautiful, and as I write this, I’m sitting in a balcony overlooking the lake as shown in the photos at left and below. Our Stowe family reunions were started by my grandfather in the late 1940’s and have happened every other year since then. Now instead of meeting in Ft. Dodge, Iowa, my father’s family home, we meet in beautiful resort areas for a week to enjoy each other’s company and see a bit of the beauty of various parts of the US.

It is wonderful meeting with family every two years and feeling the impact and support that they offer. While this may seem unrelated to the subject of furniture design, please believe me when I say it is not. I grew up in a house full of antiques that came from the Stowe family. The homes of my aunts and uncles were full of family heirlooms collected and distributed by my Aunt Allene.

Everything that we are has the opportunity to become expressed through our work with wood, and my own career as a craftsman and furniture maker has received the support and encouragement of my family.