Obituary for Peggy Bowen

Ponca City Now - January 17, 2015 12:00 am

Peggy Ann Smith Bowen, beloved mother, grandmother, artist and lifelong rancher, died Jan. 14, 2015 in Tulsa after a brief illness. The Burbank, Oklahoma, resident, known to many friends as “Miss Peggy of the prairie,” was 76.

A native of Seminole, Oklahoma, she was born on February 9, 1938 to Raymond Lee and Florence Ann (Ware) Smith. After graduating from Shidler High School, she attended North Oklahoma College in Tonkawa on a music scholarship.

In 1957, she married her high school sweetheart, James Henry “Jim” Bowen Jr. of Burbank, in a military wedding in Mannheim, Germany, where Jim was stationed. Peggy traveled by ship to Germany for the wedding, and the couple lived there until Jim’s honorable discharge from the service. Upon returning to Burbank, they settled into the newly built house where they would spend the rest of their lives. They raised two daughters, operated their ranch and shared many family adventures until Jim’s death in 1987.

Peggy ran the ranch for nearly three more decades, and often spoke of the importance of farming and ranching to feeding the world. She brought to her work a keen concern for the environment and a love for animals.

When she wasn’t working, she enjoyed fishing, playing piano and singing, painting, cooking, sewing, gardening and spending time with her family, especially her three grandchildren.

She was known in the community as someone who cared for others. Although she did not talk about it, family members learned over time that she regularly took food and provided help to vulnerable people in the area, especially the elderly.

Peggy was preceded in death by her parents; husband; infant daughter, Sheryl Ann Bowen; and brothers Ronnie Lee Smith and Jerry Don Smith. She is survived by daughters Jama Leigh Bowen (Timothy E. Tanton) of Nashville, Tennessee, and Cathy Lynn Bowen of Burbank; grandchildren Jamie Lynn Dunning of Denver, Colorado, Michael Scott Dunning of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Rhys Anjou Bowen-Tanton of Nashville; brother Phillip Gene Smith, of Seminole; and several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of her life will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015 at Albright United Methodist Church, 128 South Palm St. in Ponca City, with the Rev. Scott Spencer officiating. Burial will follow in the Burbank Cemetery of Burbank, OK.