Jessie Mae Bowers was born on October 4, 1933 in Deport, Texas. She was the daughter of Jesse James Edwards and Isabella Jane Grinstead Edwards. She married Bobby Jaye Bowers on February 19, 1954 in Dallas, Texas. She left her earthly home and was received into her heavenly home on August 27, 2016 in Sherman, Texas.
Jessie was a 1951 graduate of Deport High School. She was a talented athlete with basketball being one in which she excelled. She loved sports and was an avid Mavericks and Rangers fan. She was not a big TV fan but you could usually find her watching a game if they were playing. She also had a green thumb and loved working in her yard. Her yard was her pride and joy. She knew plants, trees, and flowers and some of her favorite times were walking in the yard with her mom talking about these things; learning and sharing their love and knowledge for this type work.
She worked in several different lines of work in her lifetime. Most of these involved some type of bookkeeping or medical office management. She worked at J.C. Penney and for Jim Smith, CPA. Her last position was the office manager for Dr.’s Rowland, Baur, and Khan. She was also a homemaker and mother and she committed herself to her kids and being involved in their school activities. She was an excellent seamstress and made many, many clothes for herself and her kids. She was an excellent cook and everyone has a favorite that she would make sure was on the menu during family gathering and holidays. Family times were everything to Jessie. She was her happiest when surrounded by her kids and their families. So many great times were had by all at their place in Tom Bean, Texas. Holiday cookouts, 4th of July fireworks, birthday parties and so much more in the trees in the back of their place; “The Ponderosa”.
Jessie is survived by her children and their spouses: Debbie and Gary Smart of Tom Bean, Texas, Darrell and Laurie Bowers of Double Oak, Texas, and Duane and Laura Bowers of Tom Bean, Texas. She was the loving Granny and Nan-Nan to Amy Geer of Bells, Texas, Deanna Bowers of Lewisville, Texas, Doug Bowers of Lewisville, Texas, Jeff Bowers and wife Jessica of Ft. Worth, Texas, Jodi Bradley of Howe, Texas, Gary Don Smart of McKinney, Texas, Dean Smart of Sherman, Texas, and Nathan Smart of Tom Bean, Texas. She was Nan-Nan to 11 great-grandchildren-soon to be 12 in October with the birth of a new great-granddaughter. She had one great-great grandson and got to see 5 generations of her family when he was born. Jessie is also survived by her twin sister, Dessie Fay Dunlap of Arlington, Texas and her brother and his wife, Orville (Dean) and Jeanine Edwards of Irving, Texas, and her brother-in-law and his wife, Paul and Linda Bowers of Sherman, Texas. She is also survived by a number of very special cousins, nieces and nephews and their families who she loved very much.
Jessie was preceded in death by her husband, Bobby Jaye Bowers, her father and mother, brothers Elmer Earl, John L., and Robert Lee Edwards, father-in-law and mother-in-law J.B. and Bonnie Bowers, brother-in-law, Jay Dunlap, and her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Ella Faye and Doug Harris.
Services for Jessie will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home in Whitewright, Texas. Visitation will be held at 1:00 p.m., immediately before the services. Officiating the service will be Brother Bobby Hawkins. Pallbearers will be Doug Bowers, Jeff Bowers, Gary Smart, David Harris, Chris Stanley, and Dean Smart. Burial will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery in Whitewright, Texas.