In 1981 Rae packed up her belongings, bade farewell to her family and friends, and crossed the Pacific to live in Seattle, Washington, where Doug previously worked before his “Down Under: explorations. Neither had jobs, but being in their mid-twenties, this new life together was another exciting adventure and both felt optimistic something would turn up—which it did. Microsoft, started in 1975, formed a partnership with IBM the same year the couple planted roots in the Seattle area. Tech companies quickly sprouted in the region and the local economy soared. Doug returned to the company where he previously worked.
In 1982 the two married in a quiet ceremony. Only a short month after they married, the young couple experienced a heart wrenching complication. Rae underwent a hysterectomy, which meant she could not have children. Both were devastated.
Immediately Doug and Rae started the adoption process, knowing it would be a very long process. They both believed that adopting a child from another country would be their best hope.
Miraculously, halfway through the process, Rae’s gynecologist called about a local Seattle-area girl who wanted to give up her daughter for adoption. The single mother was American and the father a Panamanian. The young girl felt she could not bring up the baby on her own and wanted a better life for her child. So in 1983 Doug and Rae picked up baby Amy and brought her to their Kirkland, Washington home. Now there was a child, both realized they needed more education.
Since Doug already had some college credits, they decided he finish his education first. While working full-time, he attended night and weekend classes to get his mechanical engineering degree from the City University of Seattle in three years.
Immediately after arriving in the United States, Rae realized there were so many more opportunities than in her homeland—especially for a college-educated woman. Like so many women at that time, she initially believed job choices limited her to being a homemaker, nurse, secretary, or teacher. But her hiking and traveling adventures taught her she wasn’t afraid to do things and to take chances. So when Doug graduated, she decided to go also attend City University of Seattle. Doug looked after daughter Amy a lot during that time.
When she obtained her degree, Rae found a job at Data I/O in Redmond. She began as a secretary, and then got a big boost in her career when she transferred to the marketing department. In 1989 the company offered her a job in Europe. Doug was getting burned out at his job with Nintendo and Amy would start school soon. With little hesitation, the family moved to Amsterdam where, Doug happily stated, “Rae began gallivanting all around for Data I/O.”
Doug was ahead of his time when he became the stay-at-home parent. Remembering, though, how difficult it was to work, raise a family, and go to school at the same time, he decided to take this opportunity to get his Master’ of Business Administration from the European University at Hague.
Within three years, Data I/O closed the Amsterdam office. So in 1992, the company transferred Rae to London and Amy attended public school. Rae travelled throughout Europe and on weekends Doug and Amy joined her wherever she happened to be, especially spending a lot of time in Paris. Then the idea came to them to mark all the places they visited together on a world map, which became one of Rae’s proudest possessions.
On several of her trips, Rae missed a step, tripped, and fell. Doug thought, “Gee, you’re getting clumsy,” but thought nothing more of these accidents. His thoughts focused more on wanting to go back to work and start contributing to the family’s income. The Bower family decided to moved back to Seattle.
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