Mattie Ruth (Pat) Bowers

Mattie Ruth (Pat) Bowers, 90, of Valdosta died Monday, February 22, 2010. She was born in Valdosta on March 1, 1919 to the late Henry Franklin, Sr. and Mattie Lou Hall Parrish. Mrs. Bowers was a member of Lee Street Baptist Church where she sang in the choir and then later became a member of the Park Avenue United Methodist Church. She was a retired teacher with the Valdosta City School System having taught at Central Elementary and S. L. Mason Elementary. Her passions both to teach and to be taught spanned beyond her career into her roles as mother and grandmother. In addition to painting, Mrs. Bowers enjoyed nothing better than the comforts of a good book and her beloved Fernandina Beach.

Survivors include her son and daughter in law, D. H. and Mary Tillman Bowers of Tega Cay, SC., two daughters and a son in law, Barbara Bowers Finn and Richard Finn, Diana Kay Bowers all of Atlanta, five grandchildren, Paul Dargitz and his wife, Cassie, Mark Stephen Foster, Melissa Dargitz Hapgood and her husband, Stacy Hapgood, Mary Rebecca Bowers Conners and her husband, Joe Conners, Sara Elizabeth Bowers and her husband, Sean Tintle, four great grandchildren, Ava Hapgood, Olin Hapgood, Abigail Conners and Grace Conners, one sister, Mrs. W. D. (Alene) Rodeffer of Fernandina Beach, Fla., three half sisters, Gail Skiles, Elaine (Arthur) McMillan and JoAnn Sanders all of Valdosta, one sister in law, Mrs. Henry F. Parrish, Jr. of Valdosta. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dudley H. Bowers, Jr., two sisters, Louise Parrish Mayne and Irene Parrish Norwood and a brother, Henry F. Parrish, Jr.

Funeral services will be held at 2pm, Thursday, February 25, 2010 in the chapel of Carson McLane Funeral Home with Rev. Charlie Scarbrough officiating. Burial will follow in the Sunset Hill Cemetery. The family received friends on Wednesday from 6-8pm at the funeral home. Condolences to the family may be conveyed online at www.mclanefuneralservices.com. Carson McLane Funeral Home.


Funeral Home:
Carson McLane Funeral Home
2215 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA
US 31602