Lena Bowden

FUNERAL SERVICES: 10:30 A.M. on Thursday at Comanche Funeral Home Chapel. BURIAL: Gardens of Memory Cemetery in Comanche County. VISITATION: 6:00 P.M. until 7:30 P.M. Wednesday evening at the funeral home: MEMORIALS: Sidney School Library Lena Bowden, age 98, passed away on August 30, 2010, at Comanche County Medical Center. She was born on December 30, 1911, in Mills County to Elzie and Sally (Johnson) Smith. Lena attended Mullin High School and later graduated from Howard Payne College with a teaching degree. On July 8, 1934, she married Marvin Bowden of Mills County. They moved to Comanche in 1944. They were married for 72 years. Lena was a teacher and a principal. She taught at Prairie, Pompey, Hasse, and Newburg. Many of her students kept in contact with her for decades after she retired from teaching. She also worked at Blackwood Hospital for several years. In her later years, she was a site manager at Comanche Senior Citizens’ Center. Lena worked there with her husband, Marvin, where he delivered meals to the elderly. Lena is survived by two sons, Weldon Bowden and wife, Georg Ann, of Proctor and Doug Bowden and wife, Jan, of Newburg.; one granddaughter, Rene Murphy of Comanche; two grandsons, Jason Bowden and wife, Kimberly, of St. Paul and Cory Bowden of Dallas; great-grandchildren, Kellie Gibson, Michael Murphy, Megan Dees, James Bowden, Lillian Bowden, Madison Bowden and Trinity Murphy; and one great-great-grandson, Tyson Dees. She is also survived by one brother, John Smith and wife, Ima Jean of Mullin; two sisters, Ema Nelle Carney of Anadarko, Oklahoma, and Isa Belle Carnelius of Fort Worth; one sister-in-law, Evelyn Smith of Mullin and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Marvin, one grandson, Jimmy Bowden; one great-grandson, Jimmy Paul Murphy; one sister, Faye Weeks and three brothers, Edgar, Kyle and Henry Smith.