Arlene Ermina Bowman, 90, of Ocala, Florida, peacefully passed away Sunday, April 19, 2020. She was a longtime resident of Ocala.
Arlene was born in Swea City, Iowa, on June 29, 1929, to Fred and Fern (Udy) Peterson. At the age of 17 after graduation from high school, Arlene moved to Chicago, Illinois, to attend the Ray Vogue School of Dress Design. After graduation, she was employed at the school as an instructor of pattern making for three years. She met Theodore “Ted” James Bowman in Chicago and they were married in Chicago in 1950.
Arlene and Ted lived in Topeka, KS and later Peoria, IL, where she was a pattern maker for a dress manufacturer until the birth of their son, Jay, in July 1957. In 1962 they moved to Miami, FL, where she enjoyed ‘fun in the sun’ (as she once wrote) and motherhood. Their daughter, Ann, was born in Miami in August 1963.
The young family moved to Ocala, FL in 1967 for a business opportunity for Ted. Arlene was a homemaker and a civic volunteer for many years. She was active in and served on boards and committees for Common Cause (State Governing Board), League of Women Voters, Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Fort King Presbyterian Church, and the Ocala tennis advisory board for establishment of the Fort King Tennis Center. She was also active in local and state political campaigns. She was proud of serving as co-chair on the Study on Annexation of West Ocala from 1972 to 1975 with the League of Women Voters, which supported and promoted annexation.
Arlene was creative and artistic. She enjoyed the arts and was active in the Appleton Art Museum, and for many years she made her own clothes, including the patterns. Arlene enjoyed tennis, sailing, camping, and flying with her family. Both Ted and Arlene were active in the Ocala Sailing Club and the Fort King Tennis Center. After Arlene and Ted divorced in 1985, they remained friends and attended family events together. In her later life, Arlene’s interests focused on photography, painting, traveling, and amateur ballroom dancing. She won many awards for her artwork and dancing.
Arlene is survived by her children, Theodore Jay Bowman and wife, Claudia Rae (Ramage), of Ocala, and Ann Margaret Donie and her husband, Chris, of Johns Creek GA; her grandchildren, Eric Smith, Adam Smith and wife Beth, Kate Donie, and Alyssa Donie, and her great-grandchildren, Chase Baxley, USN, Chylei, Trystan, Lincoln, Declan, Jagger, and Cullen Smith from Adam and Beth; and Gavin and Ryker Smith, and Austin and Dillan Wilkins from Eric and Jennie Smith.
Claudia and Jay Bowman, and Eric and Adam Smith are formerly of Beardstown.
Her former spouse, Ted, preceded her in death on Sept. 24, 2017. Her sister Arzelle Peterson Drew and half-sister Elizabeth “Liz” June Roberts also preceded her in October 2019 and February 2016, respectively.
A memorial will be held at a later date due to the coronavirus.
