Martha Gayle Hillard Bowen's Obituary
Martha Gayle Hillard Bowen, 81, died July 18, 2022, in Vancouver, Washington, surrounded by the love of her family. She was born June 18, 1941, to William Carlis and Hilda Mae Cooper Hillard of McHenry, Kentucky.
A coal miner's daughter, Gayle was keenly influenced both by her mother, whose strength kept the family going through very trying circumstances, and by her father, whose love for reading - despite his limited education - helped open other worlds to her. She was an excellent student and the first person in her family to attend and to graduate from college. She managed this both through working and through a program which gave loans to future teachers. While at Western Kentucky, she met Renza "Bo" Bowen. Within 6 months, they married. Upon her graduation and his release from the Army, they moved to Alexander City near his roots, where she began a teaching career that spanned 40 years.
As someone who loved learning, little pleased Gayle more than inspiring a student to take an interest in a subject. Hailing from an impoverished background herself, it was important to her that all her students feel that, whatever their background, they were equal in her eyes and that education was an opportunity for them, just as it had been for her. Judging by the way former students rushed to hug her when they spotted her in later years, she succeeded in making more of an impression than she ever imagined.
Gayle unceasingly gave of herself to her children and husband, including breaking a 20 year addiction to smoking at her children's urging and nursing her husband through many years of ill health late in their lives. Even the manner in which she let go of this life was a benediction - giving peace of mind to her children as her last bodily gift. It is impossible for them to believe any mother has ever made her children feel more loved. In that regard, she could not have been more like her own mother.
Next to her family and reading, Gayle loved Alabama football. She also appreciated keeping things on a lighter note. In that vein, her children think she would posthumously like to thank Nick Saban for the many championships she got such joy from watching. While she will be sorely missed, they also know both that Heaven couldn't have made a better draft pick and that she will use her newfound freedom to look after them in ever more ways.
Gayle is survived by her daughters, Danielle Bowen and Daphne Bowen, and her son David (Sharon) Bowen as well as by her brothers, Jim (Frankie) Hillard and Dan (Jan) Hillard. She was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, her parents and her sister, Carolyn Hillard.
Anyone wishing to make a donation in memory of Gayle may do so to The First Presbyterian Church of Alexander City, Alabama.
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