[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 72 (Thursday, May 26, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE LIFE OF EVA ``MARR'' BOWMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 26, 2005

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, on May 7, the Bowman family and 
Colorado lost a great treasure. Eva ``Marr'' Bowman died at age 93, a 
life-long resident of Wray, Colorado.
  My sympathies go to her grandson Michael Bowman, who was extremely 
close to his grandmother. Michael is a tireless advocate of renewable 
energy and of Colorado's rural communities and is a key proponent of 
the 25x25 proposal dedicated to producing 25 percent of America's 
energy needs from our agricultural sector by the year 2025.
  Marr Bowman supported Mike in his efforts. She donated $200,000 to 
the Wray, Colorado school district to install a wind turbine that will 
supply all of the school's electricity and 25 percent of the 
electricity for the town. Her donation has already set an important 
precedent in Colorado, demonstrating what dedicated communities can do 
to help rural economic development and maintain farming as a way of 
life.
  I honored Marr Bowman at the Environmental and Clean Energy Inaugural 
Ball earlier this year for her contributions to Colorado's rural 
communities and to renewable energy. I noted at the Ball: ``Without 
your generous contribution of seed money for the wind turbine project, 
further grant money would not be an option. Wray is fortunate to have 
committed members of the community like you who have the foresight and 
patience to envision a project and see it through.'' Even though she 
won't be in Wray to see the wind turbine operational next month--or to 
attend her 75th high school reunion--I am glad she knew of our 
gratitude for her commitment and dedication to her community, to 
Colorado, and to renewable energy.
  Marr Bowman's was a life well lived. She will be missed.
  For the benefit of my colleagues, I have attached Mrs. Bowman's 
obituary from the Denver Post.

                       Farm Wife a Powerful Force

                          (By Virginia Culver)

       Eva ``Marr'' Bowman was a farm wife who lived all her life 
     on Colorado's plains--but that didn't mean she wasn't up on 
     the latest environmental issues.
       Bowman, who died Saturday at age 93, left $200,000 to the 
     Wray school district as seed money to install a wind turbine 
     that will supply all of the school's electricity and 25 
     percent of the electricity for the town.
       By selling the electricity to the town, the school district 
     will make $180,000 a year, said Bowman's grandson, Michael 
     Bowman, of Wray.
       ``We'd hoped she would still be alive to see the wind 
     turbine operational next month, her 75th high school class 
     reunion,'' he said.
       In her letter to the school board about the gift, Eva 
     Bowman said, ``There is no greater gift we can give our 
     children than that of a sound education.''
       Her nephew and others have raised most of the rest of the 
     total--$1.8 million--for the turbine.
       Marr Bowman, as everyone called her, was a fixture in Wray, 
     where she sat at her own table every morning for coffee in 
     the local cafe.
       Despite the hard work of cooking, cleaning, raising 
     children and helping with the farm, Marr Bowman was not a 
     complainer.
       ``In fact, she was the most upbeat person I ever knew,'' 
     said Michael Bowman.
       But, sometimes, she did remark, ``Anyone who thought those 
     were the good old days didn't actually live through them.''
       Marr Bowman and her husband toughed out the Depression, but 
     they and their good friends, Dale and Martha Whomble, had to 
     wait some time before they could buy new cars.
       After discussing it one evening, the couples decided on a 
     stopgap measure: They would trade cars, so at least each 
     couple would have a different car.
       In addition to her family, Marr Bowman's other great love 
     was bowling, which she did for decades at the Purple Sage 
     Bowling Alley. After it was destroyed in a 1970s tornado, she 
     and her friends had to drive to other towns to bowl.
       Eva Peterson was born June 13, 1911, in Holyoke and 
     graduated from Laird High School, east of Wray.
       She met Ralph Bowman, a local farm boy, at Olive Lake, a 
     resort area near Wray that had a dance hall and skating rink. 
     ``It was a hotbed of activity in those days,'' MIchael Bowman 
     said.
       Eva Peterson and Ralph Bowman married May 16, 1931, and 
     started their life together with gifts of a pig and a cow, 
     which their families had given them. He died in January 2004.
       In addition to her grandson, Marr Bowman is survived by two 
     daughters, Jean Brophy of Wray and Jerry Baird of Pasadena, 
     CA; a son, Jack Bowman of Wray; 10 grandchildren; 22 great-
     grandchildren; her sister, Madge Barber of Burlington; and an 
     ``adopted'' grandson, Etienne Lagabrielle of France.

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