Jean Smith Bowman

Funeral services for Jean Smith Bowman, 89, will be held at First Baptist Church Chapel, Thomasville, GA at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 25, followed by interment at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Virginia Street. Rev. Marty Carnes and Rev. Tom Jacobs will officiate. Mrs. Bowman passed away at Southern Pines Senior Living on June 22, 2016. One of seven children, Mrs. Bowman was born in Fancy Gap, VA on November 17, 1926, the youngest daughter of James Franklin Smith and Leota Beamer Smith. On May 14, 1949 she married Dayton Maurice Bowman of Laurel Fork, VA. Married for 46 years, he preceded her in death on October 23, 1995. Mrs. Bowman graduated from Strayer-Bryant & Stratton College in Baltimore, MD in 1945 and went to work for the DuPont Company in Richmond, VA. After taking time off to raise her two daughters, she proudly served as counseling secretary for Briarcliff High School in DeKalb County, GA from 1969 until her retirement in 1988. Mrs. Bowman called Thomasville, GA home for over 25 years. Throughout their marriage, Mrs. Bowman and her husband were avid travelers and enjoyed international trips and taking cross-country tours of the United States in their Airstream. She was also an active member of First Baptist Church of Thomasville and volunteered at John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital and for the Thomasville Entertainment Foundation. She is survived by daughters Barbara Lee (Louis) of Thomasville, GA and Debra Gebhardt (John) of Thousand Oaks, CA; grandchildren Robert Lee of Denver, CO, Josephine Walthall (Ryan) of Atlanta, GA, William Lee of Chattanooga, TN, Christopher Gebhardt of Atlanta, GA, Catherine Gebhardt of Atlanta, GA, and Ryan Gebhardt of Thousand Oaks, CA. She is also survived by her first great-grandson, Edward Neal Walthall, and many nieces and nephews and their families. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011; or online, www.alz.org . Friends and family are invited to sign the online guest register at www.allenfh.com