Gail L. Bowker

Gail (Eckhardt) Bowker was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1951. Her parents, Walter and Marian Eckhardt, named her Valerie Sue, but in a first phone call to relatives, they had trouble understanding the name, so she became Gail Lynette! The little family moved to Dallas, Texas, for Walter to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. During that time, Gail helped welcome her sister Glenna into the family. The family moved back to Minneapolis and Walter finished seminary at Bethel. Gail started kindergarten at Seward Elementary School at the age of only four, being particularly smart for her age!

When Gail was about to enter third grade, the family moved to Winona, Minnesota. It was there that Gail began taking piano lessons from the very strict Mrs. Hillier. Gail developed enough skill that she taught Glenna some beginning piano too. She also played violin in the school orchestra. During the Winona years, Gail’s brother John was born.

The family soon moved to Bloomington, Minnesota, where Gail started junior high, and also continued taking piano lessons. The next move was to Ralston, Nebraska, a suburb of Omaha, where Gail was one of the piano accompanists for two high school musicals; she learned to drive her dad’s Volkswagen bug stick shift, and got her first summer job stuffing bras into boxes - not her favorite job!

After Gail’s high school graduation in 1968, she attended the University of Nebraska for two years in Lincoln. Meanwhile, Gail’s family had moved to Chicago, so Gail spent summers and holidays there. She applied for and won a place on Marshall Field’s College Board, which included wearing the specially designed outfit while she worked in that department over the summer and winter breaks. She also, more importantly, met Jim Bowker through his mother, Ollie, who was an important leader at Irving Park Baptist Church where Walter was a pastor. Jim had finished his military service in the Viet Nam war, and he and Gail soon fell in love and married in 1972.

During their dating years, Gail attended dental hygiene school at Loyola University. Proving his true love, Jim spent many hours allowing Gail to practice cleaning his teeth. Gail graduated and became a dental hygienist for several years.

When Gail was convinced that Jim would fully participate in parenthood, she agreed to start a family, and Nathan was born in 1978 in Evanston. Three years later, Jessica was born. The family lived with three other families from their church, Christ Church of the North Shore, in a four-flat in Evanston, with the hope that they would all live in close community, sharing significant aspects of their lives together even though each family had their own home.

Jim became an elder at their church, and as a couple, Gail and Jim ministered together to many people in the church, including leading a small group where they heavily invested in the lives of their group members.

In 1984, Jim suffered a second and fatal heart attack, which of course completely changed Gail’s life and the lives of her children. Gail greatly benefited from the presence and support of her four-flat community, and also was significantly supported by many other church friends and near-by family.

Gail had always been a wonderful mother, and that only continued in her role as a single mother. She was a role model for others, and in a few years, began leading a support group for other single moms, spending significant amounts of time not only preparing for group meetings, but helping these women outside of the group, for example going to court with them and helping them find jobs or housing.

After Jessie and Nathan were adults and living on their own, Gail decided to pursue nursing instead of going back to dental hygiene, and attended Oakton Community College at the age of 50 to get her RN. She won the prestigious Florence Nightingale Award, and graduated with honors. Her first job was working on the medical/surgical floor at Illinois Masonic Hospital. Then she moved on to become a hospice nurse, and she was definitely the nurse you’d want caring for you if you were dying, as her combination of skill, attention to detail, and compassion, was amazing.

Also during this time, Gail was spending huge amounts of time caring for her mother who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and was in an independent living apartment at Covenant Living of Northbrook, but needed a high level of care. Gail frequently stopped in to help her mom with any number of things, including accompanying her to every doctor and dentist appointment. In itself, this was almost a full-time job.

By the time covid struck, Gail had sold her unit at the four-flat and temporarily moved in with son Nathan and his family as she figured out where to live. She provided the blessing of childcare while the adults worked from home. In 2020, Gail purchased a home in Crystal Lake just minutes from Jessica and her family.

In the last few years, Gail busied herself looking for a new church home, trying out several churches many times - not an easy task - and also joined a Bible Study Fellowship group, through which she developed a lovely group of friends who became increasingly important to her. She commented many times about how excited she was about all that she was learning about the Bible!

Gail was affectionately known as “Gigi” to her grandchildren. She drove into Evanston once a week to pick up Nora and Corinne from school, spend the afternoon and evening with them and Nathan and Katie, and then the next day she would spend with her mother who lived in a memory care unit in Northbrook, continuing to provide amazing care - all the extras that the memory unit didn’t provide - including continuing to take her to healthcare appointments, doing her laundry more carefully than they would do on the unit, and bringing her so many treats! So not only would you want Gail as your hospice nurse - you would want her as your daughter taking care of you as you age and struggle in many ways.

During all of this time, Gail also homeschooled her oldest grandson, James, one full day a week, and she loved it completely. She enjoyed researching fun things to do to make everything more interesting and engaging. What was interesting to her grandchildren was interesting to her. She came to every possible event she could for the grandchildren - volleyball games, band concerts, grandparents day, school musicals and more and often shared a meal with Jessica's family in Crystal Lake. Not to mention countless "babysitting" for all 6 of her grandchildren!

Gail was all about relationships: she did everything in her power to maintain deep and strong relationships with extended family, her family of origin, old friends from the Evanston Vineyard and Christ Church, new friends from BSF, her siblings and their spouses and children and grandchildren - let’s just say everyone! She had a great fear of missing out on any event, any gathering, precisely because all of these relationships were so immensely important to her. Everyone knew that Gail might be late!! It was usually because there was some relational interaction that she just had to attend to; or because she was making the most special cake for a birthday, and wrapping gifts that looked so beautiful - not just slapped together. This was Gail!

You left us too soon, Gail — you had so many more things to do with each of us, so much more love to generously pass around, and so many more special cakes to bake. We love you so much, Gail. You loved us so incredibly well.

Gail is survived by her sister Glenna Ganster and husband Steve; her brother John Eckhardt and wife Priscilla; her son Nathan Bowker and his wife Katie and children Nora and Corinne; her daughter Jessica Camphouse and her husband Doug and children James, Jillian, Jacob and Joshua. Gail is pre-deceased by her husband Jim; and by her mother and father, Marian and Walter Eckhardt. Peace be to the living and the dead in Christ.

God's Magnum Opus

When you arrive in heaven... something wonderful will happen. You will be just like Jesus...

Of all the blessings of heaven, one of the greatest will be you! You will be God's magnum opus, his work of art. The angels will gasp. God's work will be completed. At last, you will have a heart like His.

You will love with a perfect love.

You will worship with a radiant face.

You'll hear each word God speaks.

Your heart will be pure, your words will be like jewels,

your thoughts will be like treasures.

You will be just like Jesus. You will, at long last, have a heart like His.

...from Grace by the Moment, by Max Lucado