Evelyn E. Bowers, 88, of Clearfield died Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013 at her home. She was born Dec. 23, 1924, in Wallaceton, the daughter of Francis K. and Frances (Maines) Young.
Mrs. Bowers was a graduate of the Clearfield Area High School.
She was a member of the West Side United Methodist Church. She had served on the administrative board and was a member of the United Methodist Women and the Circle Sarah. She was named Clearfield’s Woman of the Year by the Clearfield BPW on May 16, 1991.
She’s survived by her husband, Rodney Bowers of Clearfield, whom she married on July 11, 1944 in Atlanta, GA, while serving as secretary for the alumni association of Emory University.
The couple returned to Clearfield when Mr. Bowers was discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1946. They have four children, R. Eugene Bowers and his wife, Lesa of Hartville, MO; Cynthia Little of Oriental, NC; and Pastor Paul A. Bowers and his wife, Debra and Aileen B. Amy, both of Clearfield; 11 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
Also surviving are three sisters and two brothers, Katural Longman and her husband, Herbert of Laura, Ohio, Doxie Gray and her husband, John of West Decatur, Lloyd Young and his companion, Mary Baugh of Revlock, Stanley Young of Chicopee, Mass., and Leatha Young of Lockport, NY and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; a granddaughter, Dr. Jennifer Mae Bowers-Condon; two sisters, Beverly Dides and Beatrice Crabill; and two brothers, Carl and Richard Young.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the West Side United Methodist Church, 317 Nichols St., Clearfield, with the Rev. Dr. Joleen A. Willis and Pastor Paul Bowers co-officiating. Burial will be in Crown Crest Memorial Park, Hyde.
Friends will be received from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Wednesday and from 10 a.m. until the hour of services Friday at the Bennett and Houser Funeral Home, Inc., Clearfield.
Mrs. Bowers was a member of the Clearfield Hospital Volunteers/Auxiliary, the Clearfield County Agricultural Extension Service Advisory Board, the Bradford Grange, the Curwensville Homemakers Club and the Clearfield Square Dance Club.
She was interested in reading, vegetable gardening, swimming, canning fruits and vegetables, watching professional football, sewing, traveling by private airplane with her husband and spending time with their grandchildren.
Mrs. Bowers made many contributions to the community. She was a volunteer at the Clearfield Hospital until the age of 86 years; she had accrued more than 8,500 hours. She was secretary of the Agriculture Extension Advisory Board, a volunteer in the Clearfield County Fair needlework department as a judge, a member of the Clearfield County 4-H
Advisory Board and was on the Clearfield – Jefferson Family Living Program Development Committee.
She had been a leader in the Homemaker’s Day program. She had served on the United Methodist Church Commission on Ministries on a local and district basis as coordinator of family ministries. She was co-president of the Clearfield Square Dance Club.
In the past, she had served two terms as president of the Clearfield Agricultural Extension Service. She judged clothing entered in county fairs outside Clearfield County.
She judged needlework entries in Grange sewing competitions. She was a 4-H leader and sewing instructor for eight years, as well as a Girl Scout Troop leader for six years and a lay delegate to United Methodist Church Annual Conference.
Mrs. Bowers had taught Sunday school teachers in lab school events in central Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York for 12 years and had taught elementary students in Sunday school for more than 30 years.
To send an online tribute, go to www.bennettandhouser.com or www.mem.com.