A.V. COUPLE LOOKS BACK ON A LIFETIME OF SERVICE.

Byline: Bettie Rencoret Senior Columnist

Dr. Homer Rowell can look back on a lifetime of service to the Antelope Valley: nearly four decades as a doctor, 11 years as chief of outpatient services at Mira Loma Hospital, a founding board member of Antelope Valley Bank.

So can his wife, Marguerite: she helped reactivate the local Community Chest, the precursor of the United Way, helped get the Visiting Nurses Association established in the Antelope Valley, and was a charter member of the local chapter of the American Association of University Women; member of the Lancaster Woman's Club and president of the Los Angeles County Medical Alliance.

``Everything we have done has been people-oriented,'' said Homer, now 78 and retired from active medical practice.

Homer came with his family to live in Lancaster in 1924 when he was 6, and his father became principal of Antelope Valley Joint Union High School.

After Rowell graduated from the school in 1936, he enrolled as a business major at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where his future bride was already a nursing student.

Marguerite and Homer met in 1937 while in the Wesley Foundation, a Methodist student organization, and found they had a lot of common interests. Rowell liked the idea that she always seemed to be having a good time.

``Marguerite and her peers were having so much fun over in their area, that in my second year, I switched to pre-med so I could join them,'' he said.

Marguerite graduated in 1939 and enrolled in Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where in 1942, she received her master's degree as well as her registered nurse degree.

Meanwhile, Homer, now with a major in zoology and a minor in chemistry, was graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1941.

They married in 1942, and on a visit to the Los Angeles area to see his maternal uncle, Dr. Edward Strong Merrill, Homer made a career decision.

Dr. Merrill was notable not only as a medical practitioner, but for his athletic coaching activities and Homer valued his advice. He encouraged his nephew to enter the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, which is now the College of Medicine, at the University of California, Irvine.

On completion of class studies, he interned at Los Angeles County Hospital, then did his one-year residency there.

After he finished his medical studies, Homer brought his wife home to Lancaster in 1945 and he went into private practice, first as an associate of the late Dr. Craig Byrne, another doctor of osteopathy, then in his own office on what is now Lancaster Boulevard.

``Dr. Byrne took me in when I first started out,'' he said. ``He was a good doctor and a wonderful man. In those days the other doctors and I went over and delivered our babies at Dr. Senseman's hospital,'' he said.

By 1973, Dr. Rowell had established a good working rapport with the staff at Mira Loma Hospital (now High Desert Hospital) and decided to join them in outpatient services, soon taking over as the department chief.

``From time to time I served as chief of medical services but when I was offered the job on a permanent basis I turned it down because I wanted a one-to-one relationship with the patients. I enjoyed my work there.''

He retired in 1984.

Homer has been on the medical staffs at Antelope Valley Hospital, Lancaster Community Hospital and High Desert and continues in retirement as an honorary member of all three.

Marguerite's family roots equipped her well for the life she chose. Her mother was a nurse living in Arizona when her father, a United States cavalryman, arrived in Arizona. After her parents were married, her father went to work for a railroad.

Marguerite has devoted her time throughout the decades to community service projects - when she wasn't absorbed in being mother to their son and daughter.

In 1967 she was named Woman of the Year by the Women's Division of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce for her contributions to community betterment.

Her service involvement included being a charter member of the local chapter of the American Association of University Women; member of the Lancaster Woman's Club and past president of the defunct Lancaster Junior Woman's Club; California Medical Alliance; AMA Alliance; past president of the Los Angeles County Medical Alliance.

She was a promoter of reactivating the local Community Chest as a precursor to the United Way here. She then became a founder-member of the Antelope Valley Region, Los Angeles County United Way.

She helped arrange for an Antelope Valley chapter of the Visiting Nurses Association, and is still on the advisory board for this area.

She is past president of the Assistance League of Antelope Valley.

She was a member of the Joshua Tree Council of the Girl Scouts of America and is still a member of the Gift Foundation for Antelope Valley Hospital.

LANCASTER - Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk.

Today: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, pineapple/cottage cheese, green beans, pears.

Tuesday: Chicken Dijon, rice pilaf, peas carrots, coleslaw, Jell-O w/peaches.

Wednesday: Baked ham, sweet potatoes, cabbage, tossed salad, pudding.

Thursday: Juice, spaghetti with meatballs, Italian squash, tossed salad, cheesecake.

Friday: Baked fish, baked potato, mixed vegetables, marinated beets, apple.