Betty Jo Bowden Funeral
Notes
Transcript
Betty Jo Bowden
Passed: December 3, 2023
Funeral: December 7, 2023
Interment: Cedar Ridge Cemetery
Survivors:
Children: Darrell Bowden, Nancy Shreve (Dale), Keith Bowden
Grandchildren: Kyle, Cole and Katie
Sisters: Melissa Gee (Clifford), Barbara Davidson (Larry), Marianne Stevens (Mike)
Brothers: Robert Hinton and Larry Hinton (Gina)
Order of Service
Order of Service
1. “In the Garden” - Family seated
2. “How Great Thou Art” - Song – George Beverly Shea
3. Welcome and Scripture - Randy Darnell
4. “Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior” - Song – Matthew Pittman
5. Eulogy - Randy Darnell
6. “Amazing Grace” - Song - Congregation
7. Prayer and Dismissal - Randy Darnell
8. “Near to the Heart of God” - Song
Service
Service
Enter and family seated on “In the Garden”
Seat everyone and be seated - How Great Thou Art - George Beverly Shea
I want to welcome you all to the First Baptist Church of Gray and the funeral service for Ms. Betty Jo Bowden.
It is very kind of ya’ll to be here today to pay your respects to Ms. Betty and to show your love to her family.
I know that we are all glad that the Lord was merciful and didn’t allow Ms. Betty to linger and suffer for a long, long time
But I also know that we weren’t really ready to let her go.
If ever there was anyone who could bring a smile to your face on a rainy day - it was Ms. Betty.
She was quite a woman and she will be sorely missed by a whole bunch of folks.
She requested two scriptures be read today.
The first is probably the most beloved scripture of all time and yes, I’ll be reading from the King James Version.
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Jesus made that statement possible - and that’s Ms. Betty’s second scripture.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Ms. Betty mentioned to Nancy too that there was a scripture about a garden she wanted read.
And for the life of us we couldn’t figure out which one.
The word garden is used 52 times in the King James Version.
I looked around and tried to figure out what she might have had in mind
And I’ve chosen one - I’m 99% certain it’s not what she had in mind.
But I think you might hear Ms. Betty in it.
Isaiah 58:6–11 (KJV 1900)
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, And to let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, And that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, And thine health shall spring forth speedily: And thy righteousness shall go before thee; The glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.
Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, The putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, And satisfy the afflicted soul; Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, And thy darkness be as the noonday:
And the Lord shall guide thee continually, And satisfy thy soul in drought, And make fat thy bones: And thou shalt be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Betty Jo Bowden loved the Lord.
And He made her like a watered garden, blessed in every way because she did the things the Lord mentioned.
Joe Evans wrote a letter to the family that they wanted read today that is evidence for this.
Joe writes:
Read Joe’s Letter
Let us pray:
Our Father - your children are here and we’ve brought some friends with us.
We all want to thank you and bless your name for touching our lives with Ms. Betty.
For some you let her be Mama
For some you let her be Grandma and Grams.
For some you let her be Brother or Sister
And to a whole slew of us - you let her be friend.
What a blessing you have given to each of us.
I can’t think of Ms. Betty without smiling, without hearing the kindness in her voice.
Bless you for making a woman such as her and gifting us as you have.
Lord, as we sing and speak and pray, I pray that you are blessed.
Our tears of sadness mean the gift you gave us was so very precious to us.
The smiles and laughter we share shows how we loved what you’ve done and Lord it is a part of us enjoying you forever.
Lord, we didn’t deserve what you did for us
But you did it anyway
It is your lovingkindness we saw in Betty.
Thank you.
Thank you very, very much.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior - Matthew Pittman
If you’ve ever been to Potterville, you know it ain’t much.
I don’t mean any disrespect to Potterville, in fact, if anything, I have a bit of envy for the folks of Potterville.
I suspect there isn’t a ton of noise out there - especially at night.
I bet when you get away from your house lights and look up into the sky, I bet you can see a billion, trillion stars
Things we can’t do - even in our little city of Gray.
There’s plenty of open land there - farming.
I know there is a sand pit somewhere near there - I went there once.
There are trees - lots of them.
And churches.
The further you are from a city, the more God fearing people tend to be.
Not everybody - but really, as a rule.
And in Potterville, you are a long way from a city - Reynolds and Butler aren’t really in the big city class -you know what I mean?
But at 1174 Tommy Purvis Jr. Rd - it has a Reynolds address but it’s Potterville.
In fact, if you go to google maps and search Potterville Georgia,
Right smack dab in the center of your screen you’ll see “Taylor Mill Baptist Church.”
That was Betty Jo Hinton’s church.
It’s where she heard about Jesus and fell in love with him.
Keith said she told him she was baptized in White Water Creek.
We aren’t sure where that creek was located, but we do know - because Betty told us
It was very, very cold.
Ms. Betty’s life started in the country.
She remembered picking cotton on the farm.
The family did move to the city of Reynolds - that’s still not the BIG city.
Her mom was a homemaker.
Her dad a plumber.
And they lived near family - the Hinton’s.
Betty was the oldest of 8 children - I suspect second mama to some of the younger ones.
And - Betty Jo Bowden trivia fact - she played basketball on her high school basketball team.
Imagine that.
When she graduated she moved to Macon to attend nursing school.
She lived with her Aunt Grace and for fun the guys and the gals would cruise down Cherry Street in Macon.
What a different world than today.
Back in the day if it wasn’t the dead of winter, your windows were rolled down.
One evening, a 1955 Pontiac pulled up beside a cruising Betty.
The young guy’s name was Darrell Bowden and he had a pick up line - from what I understand, it was his only pickup line.
But - it appears he only needed to use it one more time.
“Hey lady, is that your dog?”
There was no dog in Betty’s car - but it appears Ms. Betty was bitten by the love bug and her and Darrell were soon wed.
Betty went to work selling men’s clothing with Sears.
Which mean everything Little Darrell, Nancy and Keith wore came from Sears.
We have a moment talking the other night - do ya’ll remember wearing double kneed blue jeans?
So do I.
She left downtown when Sears credit opened in the Macon Mall.
Remember the Macon Mall - it was THE place to be.
She worked there until they closed it down.
Then she moved to the U.S. Marshall’s office where she remained for the next 17 years.
She and Darrell lived on Mogul Road in East Macon.
Then on Cochran Short Route
And then finally ended up in Jones County on Skinner Road off Lite-N-Tie.
It is country now - but was sho’ nuff country then.
It was so far out, the kids had a Shetland pony and very few friends - because there were no friends around to be had.
And here is where the real story of Betty Jo Bowden lives.
Remember reading John 14:1-3?
Remember John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions...”
My personal opinion - and it’s just my opinion - is that it’s unfortunate the King James translators used the word “mansion.”
I know mansion appeals to us folk of modest means - and I’m sure Betty’s family wants Betty to be rewarded with everything Jesus can possibly lavish on her.
But if Betty has a mansion, Betty would be miserable and here’s why.
Mansions are big and open and opulent.
They have swooping staircases and balconies and all kinds of nooks and crannies to sit in.
There’s carpets to keep clean and walls to keep painted
And so many things to not break.
A mansion is a place where things are meant to be seen.
Does that sound like Betty?
If Betty had a mansion, she’d be in the kitchen with the help.
She’d be boiling that hogshead to make the best Brunswick stew you have ever put in your mouth?
She’d be frying up some yard bird and making from scratch biscuits with those little knuckle marks in them
The kind that bring tears to your eyes they are so good.
Once she made enough of that to fill the army she hopes shows up, she’s stuff you with a little bit more peach cobbler.
That’s not mansion fare.
Every year on the Fourth of July week, the McInvales - that’s Betty’s mama’s folks and the Hinton’s would gather in East Jones county
All of them were Betty’s folks - 100’s of people and every last one of them she considered hers.
Remember - this is back in the day - many of the plants were closed only on the 4th of July week and Christmas week
Working folk were all off at the same time - and the Bowden’s house was the place to go.
Kids would run and play and track mud all over the house.
Men would put concrete blocks in a 5’ x 9’ rectangle - build a fire and let the coals get just right.
Then they’d put a steel grate over the pit and grill pork shoulders and deer shoulders.
All night long the men would sit by the fire, tending the meat and chewing the fat.
The women gathered in the house talking and prepping all of the fixings.
They were family.
On the 4th they’d eat like kings until they were stuffed
And one of the relatives from Alabama would bring some of those illegal, heathen fireworks that the kids would throw at one another.
That’s not mansion behavior - that wouldn’t fit in a mansion.
But it set Betty’s heart on fire.
Family - and if you were near Ms. Betty’s orbit, you were Ms. Betty’s family.
This old boy knows it too.
Betty and Big Darrell did so many things, it would take us all day to talk about them all.
Betty was a Girl Scout leader.
She helped out with the Wednesday Fellowship meals at church.
She made all of the kids clothes
She worked in her garden and got chased by a crazed rooster.
He had a thing for Ms. Betty - they had to give it away because it had it in for her.
They were in a model train club - Betty was the secretary.
They were in the Lion’s club
They traveled to craft fairs where Big Darrell brought his home made kiddie train and gave rides
And they sold boiled peanuts and Silver Queen corn.
They’d boil that corn on the cob, shucks on it until it was just right.
People would line up long before it was ready.
One of the kids would fish the corn out of the pot
Peel back the shucks like you’d peel a banana and slather real butter all over that white gold corn.
And folks would scarf it up.
The thing that she did that hit home to me was her work with the Jones County High School Marching Band.
Those of you who know my family know we were a band family for nine years.
We worked the fundraisers and such - but we didn’t know that Ms. Betty and a lady named Claudia Brumbelow started the Ms. Pride beauty pageant.
I’ve toted ice chest and tables and cleaned floors and even Emcee’d it twice.
Renee’ has done everything else that could possibly be done.
And we had no idea that Ms. Betty got it started way back when her boys were in band.
And Nancy was in the pageants.
They loved to travel.
Betty Jo Bowden of 396 Skinner Road took three Alaskan Cruises
And took one cruise through the Panama Canal.
The family took a ton of trips to Stone Mountain
Always taking picnic lunches of fried chicken and pimento cheese sandwiches.
In fact, any time they traveled - it wasn’t like today where there are fast food restaurants even in Podunk USA
Wherever they went - picnics of fried chicken and pimento cheese sandwiches.
Emphasis on they - on family - wherever they went - Ms. Betty was looking out for them.
On December 12, 2013 Big Darrell passed away.
Betty took care of him until the Lord took him home.
And then she kept going.
At church, on every Young at Heart trip.
Her grand daughter Katie posted on Facebook about Betty and one of her memories was “the church trips I would go on with you.
“I specifically remember the peaches and the peach ice cream on that one trip.”
The Young at Heart Peach trip down to Montezuma.
Betty Jo Bowden is not a mansion kind of gal - but I can tell you what she is.
When I was in Israel, we went to Chorazim and viewed the ruins of an Insula.
It was a large family compound.
Around the perimeter was stone wall for protection.
Inside were the houses.
The first house was mom and dads.
As time passed, the boy children would build on to the house apartments for them and their wives.
There would be common places the women would gather to cook.
A large courtyard where the children would play.
Every day - every single day there would be sounds of men working and going to and from their work
Women cooking, cleaning, tending animals and children
And children’s laughter - lot’s of children’s laughter.
Kind of like what you would hear at 396 Skinner Road on the 4th of July
When the McInvales and the Bowdens and all of the others that Betty Jo and Big Darrell considered family.
Maybe even people like Margie Roberts - Betty’s hair dresser for over 50 years - someone Betty didn’t think of as her hairdresser.
She was Betty’s friend.
I kind of suspect, if my family had been around in those days, we’d have been welcomed as well.
That’s the kind of mansion Ms. Betty needs.
Not a big, stuffy, “Dallas” kind of mansion.
Not the governor’s mansion in Atlanta or Milledgeville.
No - Betty’s mansion has to have floors that can get dirty.
And places where people can gather and talk and laugh and children can get into mischief.
A place absolutely overflowing with love - more love than one can imagine.
And you know what - that’s exactly the mansion Ms. Betty Jo’s Savior Jesus prepared for her.
She started trusting him in Potterville.
And now she is dancing with Him in heaven.
Ephesians 3:20–21 says: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
I bet when the angel walked Ms. Betty into heaven to the cheers of her family and friends from days gone by
And she saw Jesus and the mansion He has prepared for her,
I bet she said, “I never dreamed it could be this good.”
Amazing Grace - Matthew Pittman leads congregation
Prayer
Sweet Jesus,
You loved us before we loved you.
You brought our dead souls to life.
You showed us your love for the likes of us.
You saved us and promised to make us new.
And you did that for Betty - she is now made new.
Thank you that we do not have to grieve as those who have no hope
Because we have you - and nothing else matters.
Thank you Lord for your miraculous hope.
Amen.
Graveside
Libby Hardin and Susie Garrett had a ministry that they did but didn’t publicize.
They rescued widows and widowers.
They talked to me about it - told me their strategy.
They both knew grief first hand - Libby lost Ramsey.
Susie lost J.D.
They knew the pain of grief personally.
They knew how much it hurt.
So when someone lost their spouse, Libby and Susie invited them to their houses to play Phase 10.
They invited a number of people - they gave me a verbal list of names once.
But one of the names was Betty Jo Bowden.
And Ms. Betty Jo went - and played cards.
And listen - they were fun when they were eating and cutting up
But they were cutthroat when the cards got dealt.
Ronald Rogers was a part of the crew.
Bobby Bragg when Ms. Bonnie passed.
When Mr. Bobby passed they needed another and with no new widow or widower available, Nancy was pressed into service.
Renee’ and I got to play with them once.
You’ve never laughed so much in all of your life.
Betty Jo fit right in
With her soft laugh and her winning smile - Betty Jo lit up every room she ever walked in to.
Betty came from a better generation.
She came from an “our” time - not a “my” time.
She understood “Our Father who art in heaven.”
He is our’s - He is for us - not just for her or for me.
He life wasn’t about what God could do for her or what she wanted from God
It was about what God could do for us - for her family - for her friends.
Matthew 5:8 says: “Blessed are the pure in heart...”
I think Ms. Betty is the object lesson for that.
The family told me the story of every Christmas.
Darrell - Little Darrell - said there were always “way too many Christmas presents.”
But every now and then someone unexpected would show up that she hadn’t prepared for.
But before they left, there would be a present, for them, with their name on it.
There wasn’t exasperation that someone had the audacity to bring someone we hadn’t planned for.
There was joy - and a chance to bless someone else.
I recently learned that when a Jewish person passes, instead of saying, “I send my condolences,” they say, “May the memory of the person be blessed.”
I thought that a curious thing - until I thought it through.
How would the memory of Ms. Betty be blessed?
Her memory would be blessed if her family followed Jesus - she would be blessed by that.
Her memory would be blessed if any lingering, old wounds could be healed - she would be blessed by that.
Betty Jo’s memory would be blessed if we remembered to gather and eat and laugh and enjoy one another every now and then - she would be blessed by that.
Betty Jo Bowden’s memory will be blessed if she leaves behind a legacy of love
The love she learned at Taylor Mill Baptist Church in Potterville, Georgia.
The love that Jesus grew in her until it spilled out on every last one of us.
And the love that Jesus used to bring her home.
Some of you might have finished Matthew 5:8 when I read it a second ago: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
Betty Jo saw God everywhere she looked.
And now she sees Him face to face.
May the Lord be blessed.
And may the memory of Betty Jo Hinton Bowden be blessed as well.
Let us pray:
Father,
We commend into thy hands of mercy the soul of this our departed sister, Betty Jo
And her body we commit to the earth, beseeching your infinite goodness, to give us grace to live in your fear and love, and to die in your favor
So that when the judgement shall come which you have committed to your well-beloved son,
Both this our sister, and we, may be found acceptable in your sight
and that we receive that blessing, which your well-beloved son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear you, saying
Come you blessed children of my Father: Receive the kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the world.
Grant this merciful Father for the honor of Jesus Christ, our only Savior, Mediator, our Advocate and Friend.
Now may Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
In Jesus’ name, Amen