Mary Greene Bowers

Mary Greene Bowers, a humble and beautiful servant of the Lord, died of natural causes at the side of her husband Harry of 71 years in her 95th year. She gently fell asleep to wake no more until that day when the dead in Christ shall rise.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. John 11:25-26

Mary was born in Shell Creek, Tennessee, but came of age in the mountains of Mitchell County, North Carolina, a child of the depression who graduated high school having never traveled more than 50 miles from her home. This gentle soul, this brave young girl, left her home at 17, traveling alone by train to Chicago to study at Moody Bible Institute for three years. After caring for an ailing uncle in Detroit for two years she moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, to train as a nurse, her plan to become a medical missionary in far away lands. But a handsome young seminary student caught her notice and by the end of her first year in nursing school she and Harry were married, and what a marriage it was - one of mutual devotion to one another for seven decades, of sacrificial love and continuous attendance to each others needs, of small things like daily post-it notes to one another expressing their love, and bigger things like caring for their elderly mothers in their own home in the latter years of their lives. It was never he and she, it was always they.

The year was 1952 and at that time when a young nursing student got married she was denied further education. Mary was forced to quit school. She became the wife of a minister of the gospel with all that it entailed - teaching Sunday school, caring for congregants, hosting church functions, cooking meals for the sick, comforting the bereaved, caring for the homeless, running vacation bible school, working as a camp counselor, leading ladies bible studies, playing the piano at church. . . And on top of this busy church life, for over 40 years Mary worked the evening 3-11 shift as an emergency room nursing technician in the various places they lived, at Nags Head, at Ahoskie, and finally at Asheville, the “Land of the Sky," in her beloved North Carolina mountains. Mary lived a life of joyful service, always putting the needs of others ahead of hers, whether it was those of the church folk, or her family, or the homeless, or her ER patients. In this she honored her Lord.

Of course, there were children, five boys to be exact. The first four in five years, then a surprise fifth eight years later. How she managed to raise these five knuckleheads without any visits to the funny farm is itself a miracle (though there were plenty of visits to the ER). Just to feed this motley crew was a challenge. Harry and Mary did this in shifts, Mary taking breakfast and lunch while Harry was at his day job, and Harry, with Mary away at the ER, taking dinner. These boys still speak of the fantastic feasts they enjoyed growing up, of big platters of homemade fries and onion rings, of pork chops and fried chicken and salmon patties and fried fish, of hams and biscuits and bacon, of gallons of sweet tea, of vegetables and fruits homegrown in the family garden that Mary spent considerable time on, not only in planting and weeding and harvesting, but then in canning and freezing and pickling and preserving. The boys marvel today at the variety available from that

garden - corn and peas and potatoes, okra and onions and carrots, green beans and yellow squash and red tomatoes, lima beans and turnips and cabbage, lettuce and radishes and cantaloupe, watermelon and peppers and cucumbers - and then there was the concord grape vine and the strawberry patch and the fig tree and the apple tree and the pecan trees all yielding their fruit for preserves and jellies and jams, oh my!

Remember that house in the neighborhood where all the kids hung out, where the home was abuzz with the activity of play and friendships and youthful exuberance - that was Mary's house where she wrangled neighborhood kids, fed them, taught them, admonished and scolded when necessary, and helped to shape them into young adults.

What a remarkable woman! A devoted wife to Harry, a ceaseless worker for the church, a selfless nurse to emergency room patients, a caregiver to her elderly mother and mother-in- law, a loving mother to five boys and grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of eight (and counting!), a hard working gardener (not only the food garden, but roses and azaleas and African violets), a maker of crafts (sewing and crocheting and pottery), a servant to the needy - her hands were never idle, her life never a bore, her mind ever scheduling and problem solving and learning and thinking of what to do next.

As Harry wrote to friends, “she fought the good fight, finished the course and kept the faith. Now she is asleep and will rest from her labors until the resurrection on that last great day!"

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. Job 19:25-27

Mary is survived by her beloved, Harry, by sons and daughters-in-law Michael and Susan, Steve and Margaret, Philip and Kristina, Mark and Sue, and Jonathan and Lisa, by grandchildren William and Mary (Joseph) and Jessi (Ryan), Brian, John (Katherine) and Thomas (Kellie) and Maddy, and Megan (Benjamin) and Matthew (Katarina), and by great grandchildren Thomas and Eleanor and Elizabeth and Theodore, Jack and Josephine, Lorelei and Lucille, and Cameron.

The family gives special thanks to hospice care, which guided her and the family throughout Mary's last three months. And thank you Mike for being the Bowers chef at Mary's home these last few months, and to Mark and Sue for their attendance to Mary's needs these last few months, and especially to Jonathan, that youngest child, who lovingly cared for the medical needs of his mother and made it possible for her to remain at home with her Harry in these last months of her life. In lieu of flowers the family requests that folks consider a donation in Mary's name to St Jude Children's Research Hospital.

As we honor her we, like her, look to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

You only, O God, are immortal, the creator and maker of mankind; and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and to earth we shall return. For so did you decree, saying, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return." All of us go down to the dust, yet even at the grave we make our song :

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. BCP 2019