The funeral for Bertie Leona Bowers Dow, 86, of Chester, will be 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 3, 2008, at Fairview First Baptist Church. The Revs. John Doffer and Daryle Moore will officiate. Burial will be in Orion Cemetery. Arrangements are by Fairview Funeral Home Inc. Visitation will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 1-6 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.
She was born April 15, 1922, in Alpena, Ark., to Wesley Thomas and Ellen Ormie Barkley Bowers and died Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008, at Fairview Regional Medical Center, Fairview.
She graduated from Longdale High School in 1941, then worked as a phone operator in Fairview. She married Virgel Raymond Dow Feb. 9, 1946, in Wellington, Kan. She worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in Fairview. They moved to Cheyenne Valley where they farmed for George Viers two years. They moved west of Fairview and farmed. They moved to Shandon, Calif., in 1952, where they worked on X Bar D Ranch. They returned to Fairview in 1954. They moved west of Fairview near Orion in 1963, until April 21, 2008, when they moved to Fairview Fellowship Home. She was a member of Longdale Baptist Church, and had been a member of Orion Homemaker Club and West Pleasant Hill Sewing Club. She taught Sunday school for 35 years.
Surviving are one daughter, Mary Ellen Stewart of Aline; one son, Bruce Dow of Chester; two sisters, Ava Simmons of Chester and Wesleta Shaules of Billings, Mont.; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Virgel, and three sisters.
Memorials may be made through the funeral home to Orion Cemetery Association, Orion Fire Department or Longdale Baptist Church.
Condolences may be made online at www.fairviewfuneralhomeinc.com.