EMMA (ARNOLD) BOWMAN

ARNOLD, BOWMAN, HURST, GRIMES, KOPP, DUFF

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 2/11/2002 at 23:31:33

Decatur County Journal
January 28, l9l5

EMMA ARNOLD, daughter of LEWIS and MARGARET
ARNOLD, was born near
Greencastle, Indiana, August l6, l843. In
l846 she moved with her
parents to Iowa, the day the state was
admitted to the union. Her
girlhood days were spent at the ARNOLD
homestead near Blakesburg, Monroe
County, Iowa. In l864 she came to Decatur
County to teach school in the
settlement three miles south of Davis City,
known as New Buda. Here she
met Lieut. SAMUEL BOWMAN, to whom she was
married, June l0, l866. MR.
and MRS. BOWMAN moved immediately to their
farm home two miles north of
Davis City, where they resided until
December, l893, and where their
children, four sons and four daughters, were
born to them, all of whom
survive them except the youngest son, ROY,
who died from drowning, July
5, l896. Since the death of her husband at
Davis City, October l0,
l899, MRS. BOWMAN has resided in Leon, Iowa.
She died January 2l, l9l5,
at the age of 7l years, 5 months and 6 days.
Her illness was of short
duration and the end came painlessly and with
a moment's warning.

In company with her husband, she united with
the Presbyterian Church
during the residence at Davis City. Later
her membership was
transferred to Leon.

She is survived by one brother, R.B. ARNOLD,
of Albia, Iowa; one sister,
MRS. S.W. HURST, of Leon. She leaves seven
children and eleven
grandchildren. Her children are: W.L.
BOWMAN, of King City, Mo.; MRS.
W.A. BROWN, of Lincoln, Neb.; DR. F.A.
BOWMAN, of Leon, Iowa; MRS. FRANK
GRIMES, of Denison, Iowa; MRS. P.F. KOPP, of
Leon, Iowa; MRS. T.S. DUFF,
of Cainsville, Mo., and R.D. BOWMAN, of
Omaha, Neb.

A good woman has gone from our midst, a woman
who had reached three
score and ten and one, and was yet not old;
for the powers of mind and
soul did not share in the decline of physical
strength, and the intense
interest she felt in the life of the world
kept her spirit young and
strong. A brave soul has passed on; a soul
that had endured great
sorrow, and prevailed; a soul that had
learned the mission of pain, and
had come forth from every trial with deeper
sympathy for the suffering
of others and a serener faith and sublimer
trust in the eternal love and
purposes of God.

The summons was unexpected but it found her
house in order; she was
ready to go. She rests from her labors, but
the testimony of her faith
speaks even from the grave in the passage
marked in her Bible where last
she closed the book, "O grave where is thy
sting." Even those who feel
her loss most deeply may find the bitterness
of grief assuaged in the
contemplation of this life spent in loving
service and of such a
testimony in death. Truly they may think of
her as

"Living on as dear

In the love of There, as the

love of here."

She lived, she loved, she made her peace with
God, she died. This is
the summary of her life. Is it not the
summary of every complete life?
But what a world of meaning is hidden in each
brief phrase. Poet and
preacher, philosopher and scientist, have not
been able to sound the
depths of even the least of these mysteries,
to tell us what it really
is to live, to love, to know God, or to leave
the house of clay. Each
loses itself in the infinite and touches the
realm of silence.

"Behold we know not anything,"

But we believe character to be
the

one eternal victory, and

"We can trust that good may fall

At last--far off-at least to all

And every winter turn to spring."

Strong Son of God, Immortal Love, ****We that
cannot see thy face,
By faith and faith alone embrace, Believing
where we cannot prove."

--F.M.H.

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Copied February ll, 2002