Flossie Marie Sowell

Flossie Marie Sowell, 94, of Missouri City, Texas (since 2014), passed away peacefully in her home on November 7, 2022. After suffering a devastating fall in February, she bravely fought her way through many difficult mental, emotional, and physical challenges over the last ten months.

Flossie came from strong kin (her grandfather, Hinton Vick, was a pioneer traildriver in the mid-1800s). She had a big personality, expressed easily with her light blue eyes. She graduated from Bay City High School in 1946, and at mid-life attended community college in Mesquite. She retired from the Chilton Corporation Credit Bureau in Dallas, where she was an accounting administrator. She loved to draw and sew and was very good at both. She loved people, and especially enjoyed talking and telling stories with friends, neighbors, and family. While in Missouri City, she enjoyed new friendships, playing bingo and bunko, and being part of a sewing club. However, the biggest joy in her life was two-stepping and jitterbugging with her husband, Preston, a great dancer. In recent years, she enjoyed staying up very late playing video games and watching her Netflix dramas as her dogs Cocoa and Haylee slept at her feet, and her cats Velvet and Biscuit set next to her on her desk.

Flossie was predeceased by her son, James Preston Sowell in 2013, and her husband (m. 1946), Preston H. Sowell in 2014. Surviving family members include her daughter, Kimberly M’Carver, her husband James Sokolowski, godson David Weick, his wife Davette Weick, and their son Brandon Weick, and James Preston Sowell’s son, Taylor James Sowell. Special acknowledgments for the compassionate care given to the family by the Molina Family, Flossie’s neighbors of eight years, Aurora Mata, a caregiver who assisted the family, and Shelly Bagwell, a caregiver who also assisted the family during Flossie’s last few months.

A personal note from Flossie’s daughter Kimberly: After my brother James died, my Mom believed he visited her as a cardinal. Through the years she surrounded herself with cardinals - decorative and real ones that filled her backyard feeders, sometimes twenty or more at a time. I even took her to get a cardinal tattoo on her ankle at 88 years old. This belief provided her much comfort. Within hours of Mom’s death, when I opened the backyard blind, I was surprised when I saw a cardinal sitting on the feeder nearest my Mom’s window looking in. It was too early for a cardinal visit - the sun wasn’t up yet, and it was foggy. I showed my husband, and we were both surprised. Then, we heard a knock on the front door. We thought this was strange because she has a Ring doorbell, and we were expecting the nurse to arrive - but no one was there. Then we heard another knock, and it startled us, so I went to look out the peephole and I saw a cardinal sitting on a hanging ornament right by the front door. The ornament didn’t contain a plant or bird seed. I watched the cardinal for a few seconds, then I watched him fly away. I can only believe that this was something special, and that my Mom was saying goodbye to me like James did to her - and this was her way of lovingly saying, “see, I told you so.”

A celebration of Flossie’s life will be held soon for close family and friends. Flossie’s ashes will later be released in Galveston, along with her husband’s, son’s, and their pets’ ashes.

In lieu of flowers, please send any donations to Flossie’s two favorite organizations, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).