Bernie Kowalski

Bernard D. Kowalski, Jr was born June 25, 1948, to Bernard Kowalski, Sr and Ruth (Gardner) Kowalski in Portland, Oregon.

Bernard Sr worked for the Burlington Northern Railroad. When the railroad shut down, they moved back to St. Paul, NE Bernie’s Junior year of high school, where he graduated in 1967, from St. Paul High School. After graduation he attended Hastings Vo Tech where he graduated in Auto Body Mechanics. Bernie was then drafted into our country’s service and served in the Army in Vietnam from September of 1969 to April of 1971, when he was honorably discharged.

Upon discharge he attended Hastings’s trade school then moved to Comstock where he worked for Poland Chevrolet in Sargent. After four years of working for the Custer County Road Department, he was employed by the Bureau of Reclamation until 1994. Acquiring an interest in archeology he worked for the Kansas State Historical Society, University of Nebraska, Burns and McDonnell (Kansas City, Missouri), Augustana College (South Dakota), and Ethnoscience (North Dakota).

Bernie continued his archeological interests and shared his knowledge with many. He was a member of the Center for American Paleolithic Research in Hot Springs, SD.

Bernie is survived by many friends and associates in the archeological field and his special friend and wife Paula K. Johnson Kowalski.

Bernie was preceded in death by his parents.

Bernie chose cremation. Burial will be at a later date.