Wilma M. Bower's Obituary
Wilma Esther Martin Bower, age 95, passed away at home on December 9 in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Funeral Services will be held December 16 at 2 pm at Memorial Baptist Church, Tulsa Oklahoma, with Dr. Marc Dreyer officiating. Internment will be December 17 at 11 am at Englewood Cemetery in Clinton, Missouri. Mrs. Bower was born on January 18, 1920 to Jewell Davis Martin and Alva Martin in rural Clinton, Missouri. She was a 1937 graduate of Clinton High School. She married Lester Leroy Bower, Sr, in Clinton, on June 17, 1945. Mrs. Bower resided in Clinton and Kansas City, Missouri, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and recently Ardmore, Oklahoma. During her working years, she was the Court Probate clerk in Clinton, church secretary at Armour Heights Baptist Church in Kansas City, and retail worker at Renbergs in Tulsa. She is preceded in death by her husband, Lester Bower, Sr.; her parents, Jewel and Alva Martin; son, Lester Bower, Jr.; brother, Alva Gene Martin; sister, Doris Martin; and great-grandson, Ethan Southerland. She is survived by daughters, Cheryl Smiley and husband Mike of Ardmore, OK; Denise Knippa and husband Tom of Irving, TX; daughter-in-law, Shari Bower of Arlington, TX; sister, Evelyn Staples of Huntsville, AL; grandchildren Leslea Miller and husband Brad; Hollie Frazier and husband, Troy; Sara Southerland and husband Aaron; Chris Smiley and wife Sarah; Deanna Sivik and husband Scott; Brady Knippa; and Grant Knippa; 11 great grandchildren, Nathan Miller; Bailey, Katie, and Lacey Frazier; Zane and Jaxon Southerland; Claire, Olivia and Lauren Smiley; Austin and Shelby Sivik; nephews, Marty Staples, Paul, David and Robert Bower, and niece, Linda Gregory. Mrs. Bower was an avid quilter and member of Memorial Baptist Church in Tulsa, and Northwest Baptist Church in Ardmore. Memorials can be made to either church. Funeral Service to be held Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 at 2:00 p.m., Memorial Baptist Church. The interment will take place Thursday, 11:00 a.m. in Clinton, Missouri at the Englewood Cemetery.
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