Obituary of Charlotte B Bower

Charlotte Byron Bower was born to Charles and Mary Bennett on June 25, 1927, in Central Point, Oregon. She was their only child. When she was 9 years old, the family moved to San Diego to take care of her grandmother. Her mother passed away when she was a young teen. At age 15 she accepted Christ as her Savior and began teaching Sunday School at age 16. This set the pattern in her life of working with children and training others to work with children. While living in San Diego she participated in Bible Studies at the Servicemen's Center. She learned to play ping-pong with the young military men and women who also frequented the center. She was an avid swimmer and fisherwoman. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in San Diego and moved to Minneapolis, MN to attend Northwestern Bible College. There she met her future husband, Howard. They were married December 17, 1948. She graduated from Northwestern in 1949 with a Christian Education degree. After Howard was ordained in his home town of Curlew, IA, they returned to San Diego to begin their ministry. They moved to Livingston, MT, in 1958, and moved around to various ministries in the succeeding years. Farson, WY, Hotchkiss, CO, Newcastle, WY, Rock Springs WY, and Farmington, NM were all home to Charlotte and her family. She made her final home in Owasso, OK, with Howard, and near her youngest son, Tim, and his family. She wore many hats during her lifetime. She was a Sunday School teacher, a substitute school teacher, and a children's librarian. But most of her time was devoted to being a minister's wife and a mother. She was an avid gardener and especially enjoyed her African Violets which, at one time, numbered over 300. Once her children were grown she continued to devote her time to children through her Sunday School ministry. She loved to read to children and continued to do so with her grandchildren and through the Children's Story Hour at the library. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Carol. She is survived by her husband of 65 1/2 years, Howard, her sons: David and Marilyn, his wife of Englewood, CO; Stephen and Lori, his wife of Rossville, GA; Timothy and Cynthia, his wife of Claremore, OK; and her son-in-law, Ted Partch of Los Alamos, NM; 16 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. She left her life here on Earth to begin a new life with her Savior in Heaven on May 26, 2014.