Bessie Elizabeth Frost Bowler Obituary (1923

Bessie left her earthly friends and family on Wednesday, April 6th 2016 at the Heritage Rehabilitation and Living Center in Winthrop with her cousin Patty and Patty’s husband Gary by her side. Bessie Elizabeth Frost Bowler was born in West Winthrop January 21st 1923 the first child of Grace Clark Frost and Robert Noble Frost. When she was little her father would take her every morning up the hill to her grandfather’s house to smoke his pipe. These memories would be a treasure to her in later life. She attended the Pisgah School near Harvey’s Corner and the Howard School on the Old Lewiston Road. She later attended the Winthrop Grammar School on Main Street next to the Methodist Church. She graduated from Winthrop High School in 1941. One of her dear friends from high school was Bea Bond. Bessie married her first husband Winfred E. Foss on July 14th 1942. On May 1st 1943 she gave birth to her first child Winfred E. Foss, Jr. (Sonny). Bessie married her second husband Everett Charles Bowler on June 22nd 1946. In 1968 Bessie got her dream house, a wonderful little cape, on Norris Hill Road in Monmouth. She and her husband Everett brought the historic cape back to life doing most of the work themselves. After the renovations were done they added an ell to the back of the cape to replace the one that had burnt off in the 1950’s. All the construction work was done by Bessie, her husband Everett and her brother Boo. She was extremely proud of their hard work and enjoyed many hours in her wonderful kitchen. Every spring when the new Penn wallpaper book came out she and her cousin Patty Wallace Hartford would pick out new wallpaper for which ever room was due for new paper and they always seemed to choose the same pattern for their projects. She would drag down the extremely wide laying out board, originally used for viewing the deceased, from the shed attic and two sawhorses to use as her work station for applying the paste to the rolls of wallpaper. Bessie had a special friend, the late Elsie Rudick of North Monmouth, with whom she shared a love of flowers. They would make trips up Vienna Mountain looking for old fashioned roses around abandoned cellar holes. In later years Elsie would always call on the nights of bad snowstorms and ask Bessie if she was ready to go up on Vienna Mountain. It was a long standing joke between the two. And of course one cannot mention roses without mentioning the “Minnie Poo” Tea, (rain water and horse manure), that Bessie and Elsie made for their roses. Bessie worked hard all her life at many places. She worked picking apples for Bob Drapeau in Winthrop orchards once owned by her uncles. She also worked in Bates mill No. 5 weave making Martha Washington bedspreads. At Bates she met a good friend Terry Parker of Leeds. Terry worked making Navy blankets in the No. 2 weave room. Terry and Bessie would take turns staying at their respective homes. Terry lived on the Quaker Ridge Road and when it was hot in the summer they would take sheets and sleep on the church lawn. They had many adventures the short time that they worked together. She also worked at Rog Moc in Monmouth, Chick’s Packing Shed in Monmouth, the Lace Factory in Winthrop, Carleton Woolen Mill in Winthrop, Dorothy Egg Farm in Winthrop and she ran a video sport’s card store on Main Street in Monmouth. Her last job was her favorite where all the boys who frequented the establishment fondly referred to her as, “Gram”. She also loved her little coffee club of Marilyn Perry, Paul Terenzoni, and Carol Johnson. Bessie had a huge heart and was always doing things for others such as buying a transistor radio and earphone for Dennis Walker, who was in the hospital, so he could listen to the Boston Red Sox without disturbing the other patients, taking a turkey to a large family of relatives so they would have enough for Thanksgiving, and taking Italian sandwiches from Sam’s in Lewiston to a cousin’s house for her large family to give her a break from cooking. Bessie loved keeping busy with her gardens, lilacs, animals and canning. She also hooked rugs and loved tole painting and ceramics. In 1961 she served as a two year trustee for the Webber Memorial VFW Auxillary in Winthrop. In 1967 she was a volunteer teacher for the North Monmouth Community Church Annual Daily Vacation Bible School. In the 1970’s she volunteered for the town of Monmouth’s Bicentennial Committee and helped commemorate the nation’s 200th birthday in 1976. She volunteered for the Monmouth Museum during the 1990’s and she repaired many of the windows glazing them the way her father had taught her to do. In her later years Bessie enjoyed the company of her cat’s Pawtay, Alley and Little Lady as well as her two dogs Baby and Bucko. She loved watching snowstorms and sitting by her wood cook stove. Bessie was predeceased by her parents, her brother Ralph Washburn, her brother Albert “Boo” Frost, her son Winfred E. Foss, Jr. and her husband Everett C. Bowler, her dear friend Terry Parker Chase, and her special friend Dickey Thompson. She is survived by her daughter Bobbie M. Bowler of Winthrop, very special friend Beverly Kelly, her cousin Patty Wallace Hartford and her husband Gary Hartford of North Monmouth, her special cousins Merle Frost and his wife Marilyn, Joe Frost and his partner Jeffrey Adams, two nephews, Karl Pease of Monmouth and Peter Gold of Virginia, a niece Shelia Frost Lyons, step-granddaughter Kehli Buck Deshaine and her fianc Devan Deshaine, and step-great grandson Owen Gabriel Deshaine, of Wayne. Special thanks go out to the wonderful staff at Heritage Rehabilitation and Living Center in Winthrop and Maine General Home Health and Hospice. Those wishing to make donations in Bessie’s memory may donate to Pal’s Cat Shelter 188 Case Road Winthrop, ME 04364 or the Monmouth Museum PO Box 352 Monmouth, ME 04259. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.