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Women who saw Ron Rowlison at motorcycle rallies often mistook him for Kenny Rogers, and asked for autographs.
courtesy of Rowlison family
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Life Stories
This feature chronicles the lives of recently deceased Tucsonans. Some were well-known across the community. Others had an impact on a smaller sphere of friends, family and acquaintances. Many of these people led interesting — and sometimes extraordinary — lives with little or no fanfare. Now you'll hear their stories. Past "Life Stories" — plus more photos of this Life Story — are online at go.azstarnet.com /lifestories

Tucson Region

Mechanic, artist, biker was 'every bit our father'

By Kimberly Matas
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.08.2007
Ron Rowlison was a biker from birth.
"Since he came out of the womb, he's been riding," son Donnie Buzza said.
"He was always out in the garage working on his or someone else's bike," daughter Shawn Byington said.
That's why it was a real blow to Rowlison when he had to sell his Harley-Davidson a few months ago. It didn't make sense to keep the bike, though. By then, the cancer that claimed his life June 3 at age 66 had made it too hard for him to maneuver the motorcycle.
Rowlison grew up in the Midwest riding dirt bikes.
"He knew how from birth. No training wheels for him," his son said.
Rowlison had eight children — two biological and six through marriage — who all ride motorcycles.
"He's every bit our father. There were no stepkids," Buzza said of the way Rowlison treated him and his siblings.
Rowlison's innate talents were not restricted to biking, Buzza said. His father also was an accomplished, self-taught artist who could sketch, paint and sculpt.
When he was 17, Rowlison was awarded a scholarship to an art school for a series of sketches he'd done in ink and colored pencil. They depicting lazy afternoons on a rural, creek-side homestead that could have been pulled from the pages of a Mark Twain novel.
The talented young artist declined the scholarship, though, and dropped out of high school to marry his girlfriend, who was pregnant with a daughter.
The marriage didn't last, but Rowlison returned to school to earn a GED and became a machinist. Rowlison worked as a tool and die man, but built custom motorcycles for fun.
Byington remembers spending time in the garage with her father, handing him tools.
"We all have some mechanic abilities, but nothing like our father," Buzza said.
Many of Rowlison's children share his artistic ability, though, Buzza said.
He plans to hang on to an old wooden cigar box full of colored pencils he found among his father's possessions — a memento from Rowlison's childhood that he continued to use.
"He'd sit down and paint and just whip things out," said long-time friend Dean Branson.
Many of his sketches depict scenes of motorcycling adventures and of Western frontier life. Most of his oil paintings are landscapes.
Rowlison moved to Southern Arizona 23 years ago and joined the Tucson Valley Riders motorcycle club. That's where he and Branson met. The two logged about 300,000 miles on the road over two decades.
"I don't know what people do who don't ride all weekend," Branson said. He and Rowlison went to bike rallies all over the United States, including Sturgis, S.D.; Daytona, Fla.; and Ruidoso, N.M. They also took a long road trip to Ohio and Indiana to visit Rowlison's family.
With his mane of white hair and a close-cropped beard, Rowlison bore a striking resemblance to singer Kenny Rogers. He even won a Kenny Rogers look-alike contest while he lived in Ohio and got to go backstage at a concert to meet his doppelgänger.
In the 1980s, after Rogers' movie "The Gambler" premiered on television, women at motorcycle rallies would mistake Rowlison for the country crooner and ask for his autograph, Buzza said.
"I loved his hair," said Rowlison's wife of eight years, Marcia. "Any woman would kill for it. It wasn't gray like mine is. His turned white and it was like silk."
Marcia Rowlison grew up around motorcycles and took many rides with her husband. They'd been inseparable since their first date, when the couple went cycling with Branson and some of their biker pals.
"He was an excellent rider," Branson said. "No one in the club could keep up with him on the switchbacks. Sometimes I'd catch up, but I think he slowed down for me."
They were like brothers, Branson said, so when Rowlison began transforming his artwork into tattoos a couple of years ago, Branson was the first to roll up his sleeve.
"I was the experiment," said Branson, who now sports 10 of Rowlison's tattoos
He also practiced his mostly freehand tattooing on his adult children and his wife, who has seven tattoos by her husband.
Buzza plans to have a portrait of Rowlison inked on his chest over his heart as a tribute to the man who raised him.
Rowlison had just gotten his tattoo shop running when he was diagnosed with cancer. Family and friends thought he was on his deathbed in October when he entered the hospital. His condition was so serious that Branson moved up the date of his wedding and had the ceremony conducted in the hospital so Rowlison could serve as his best man. It was a surprise to everyone when he rallied and was allowed to go home.
This spring, feeling stronger, Rowlison bought a trike. With three wheels, balancing the motorcycle wasn't an issue for the ailing rider. Rowlison needed to carry an oxygen tank with him, but he spent a week — accompanied by Branson — tooling around Tucson, visiting friends from the motorcycle club.
"He did get a few rides in. I got to ride behind him one last time," Branson said.
Rowlison liked the freedom he felt while riding a motorcycle, Branson said.
"He said, 'I never want to be on my deathbed wishing I'd taken that ride,' " Branson said.
● To suggest someone for Life Stories, contact reporter Kim-berly Matas at kmatas@ azstarnet.com or at 573-4191. Read more from this reporter at her blog: http://go.azstarnet.com/ lastwrites
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