He was born in Lewisporte, Dominion of Newfoundland, the youngest son of Eli Rowe[1] and Phoebe Ann Freake.
After graduating, he became a teacher in Bishop's Falls and then in Bonne Bay, where he met his future wife, Edith Laura Butt.
[1] Rowe also taught in Lewisporte and Wesleyville, Newfoundland and Labrador before attending Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree and the O. E. Smith Scholarship in 1941.
[1] In 1948, Rowe left Newfoundland for additional post-secondary training, attending the University of Toronto to study for a Bachelor of Paedagogy, which he received in 1949.
[1] He returned to Newfoundland late in 1949 and spent the next two years working part-time on a doctorate in Paedagogy, which he was granted by the University of Toronto in 1951.
During that time, Rowe was a civil servant, working as the first Deputy Minister of Welfare in the new provincial government under the leadership of Joseph R. Smallwood.
He had competition from John Crosbie, who had left the Party after arguing with Smallwood the previous year over funding for the Come By Chance Refinery project.
[1] After losing his bid for re-election in Grand Falls in the 1971 general election, Rowe was appointed to the Senate by Pierre Trudeau.