Laura Bell Bowman

Laura Bell Taylor Bowman passed peacefully on October 10, 2022.  She was born July 9, 1936, to Webb and Edna (Roberts) Taylor.  She attended school in Flomot and Quitaque, Texas, with a high school graduating class of 9 students.  She attended her first year of college at North Texas State and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University.

Laura loved growing up on a ranch, raising her own herd of cattle to pay for college and helping her parents on the ranch.  She married Thomas Edwin Bowman, Sr. (Ed) in the First Methodist Church in Quitaque, TX.  She started her career in Tahoka, Texas as a County Extension Agent, later relocating to Littleton, Colorado.  She worked as an Arapahoe County Extension agent and then as the Director for the CSU Extension Service in Arapahoe County.  She was the first ever female to be hired in the position of Director in the nation, forging a path for women behind her.  Laura loved her career and the opportunities it afforded her, traveling to New York and Hawaii among other places, and all across Colorado attending county and state fairs, demonstrating food safety, new innovations (like the microwave) and meeting people.  Laura was a strong advocate for women, and enjoyed her PEO group, aiding young women with advanced degree education.

She loved quilting, gardening, listening to jazz and an evening glass of Chardonnay.  After retiring at age 55, she and Ed moved to Fredericksburg, Texas and enjoyed traveling all across the country in their travel trailer. After Ed’s passing in 2003, Laura later relocated back to Englewood, Colorado to be close to relatives.

She was preceded in death by her parents and husband.  She is survived by her son Thomas Edwin Bowman, Jr. (Tom) (Sheila), daughter Dian Linda Myers (Curt), 7 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.  A memorial will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Littleton on Monday, October 24th at 3:00 p.m.  Interment will be on Tuesday, November 1st at11:00 a.m. in the Grey Mule cemetery in Quitaque, Texas.