Nina Dahlstrom Stowers

Nina Conn Dahlstrom Stowers, passed away on the 6th of March 2017, in Houston at the age of 97. She was one of the last great Southern belles, a mother and homemaker, who in the course of a rich and eventful life pursued her passions for art, antiques, writing, story telling, and volunteering, who travelled the world - and who once kept a leopard as a pet.

Nina Stowers, who was affectionately known as ‘Queenie’, was born in Houston, on the 24th of October 1919; she was the only child of Reggie Conn, a highly respected attorney, and Minta Lois, a housewife. As a pupil at Lamar High School, she was an accomplished ice-skater. A priest at St. Thomas High School, where Nina had many friends at, offered to let her practice ice hockey with the all boys’ team. She received an award from the Olympic ice-skating champion Sonja Henie, as the Best Female Ice Skater in Houston.

An animal lover, and accomplished horsewoman, as a child she kept a pet leopard cub. The animal was kept on a leash tied to a tree in the yard and sometimes given the run of the home, until the night her father was awakened by a low growl under the bed and decided the leopard was now too big for a pet. The next day she donated the leopard to the Houston Zoo walking him on a leash to the zookeeper.

At the University of Houston, where she studied English Literature, she was renowned as a beauty and much sought after by young beaus brandishing frat pins, but she never “went steady” preferring to date them all! The man who eventually won her heart was Billy Dahlstrom, also studying engineering at U of H. Nina was with friends at a popular nightclub, when Billy met her and asked her to dance. She looked up at him and said, “If you were my boyfriend, I would not let you dance with anyone else.” That was it! Together they would raise five children, Nina, Patti, Cheryl, Ollabelle and Frederick.

Nina and Billy loved their work with The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, where Billy was Vice-President and head of the entertainment committee. They were well known to all the Corral Club members. Nina was also a founding member of LORS, Ladies of the Rodeo Society.

One of Nina’s proudest achievements was her more than 25 years volunteering in the St. Joseph Hospital’s emergency room, honored with a pin and luncheon for close to 12,000 hours of service. She traveled twice to China with the doctors and staff of the ER. She loved China and the Chinese people.

A vivacious woman with a laugh that could light up a room, she had a gift for kindness and for fun. A talented artist, she loved to amuse the children with her drawings and story telling. When as a young boy Frederick was very ill with mononucleosis, she wrote jungle stories about a mischievous monkey named Chip and read them aloud to keep him entertained. Her artistic skill for painting was a gift Ollabelle would receive and become a brilliant painter in her own right.

Nina had a particular love for ghost stories. During summer holidays at the family’s ranch Fort Clark, an old cavalry fort, she would regale the children with the legends of ghosts haunting the officers’ homes, acting out the stories with a theatrical flourish. She had a particular liking of the macabre and took her children to every horror film that came out on Saturdays, making sure they were all in church on Sunday morning at Trinity Episcopal, where she served on the endowment board for many years.

An avid gardener, which her daughter Nina learned from her and applies still today with the loveliest garden in the neighborhood, she had a discerning eye for interior design and a passion for antiques. She designed and built two beautiful homes with her husband, Billy. Nina had a particular love for religious icons and imagery, and her homes were adorned with crosses, Santos and religious paintings. She would pass her love of antiques, and her talent for hard bargaining, on to her daughter Cheryl, who would frequently accompany Nina to auctions at Hart Galleries, instilling a love and knowledge that Cheryl would carry into own career as an antiques dealer. She encouraged all her children to follow their passions. When her daughter Patti left college to pursue a music career in Los Angeles, it was with the gift from Nina of a beautiful Gibson B-25 guitar - on which Patti would write the songs for a string of acclaimed recordings.

Billy died on the 15th of July 1974. With Billy, Nina had travelled extensively throughout South America and to Hawaii. Following her husband’s death she travelled the world with her good friend Miriam Cooley, cruising in the Mediterranean, Greece, and visiting the Holy Lands.

She rented a plantation home for a year in Natchez, MS, making many wonderful friends. One friend later invited her back to Natchez to meet a wonderful man and recent widower, Dr Robert Stowers, a dentist. They fell in love and were married on the 20th of June 1987. Together they enjoyed a happy autumn of their lives, travelling in Hawaii, Mexico and Italy, as well as spending time in his home in Switzerland, until Robert’s death.

Nina loved to sing, and throughout her life family gatherings and social occasions would invariably be illuminated by Nina and her lifelong friend Rosemary Pearson Jacobe joining voices on their show-stopping number “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire”. But that is precisely what she did as a loving and deeply loved wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, who warmed the lives of everyone who knew her.

The family would like to thank all the people at The Brookdale at the Galleria for their kindness and care in recent years, especially the nurses, Keshia and Whitney, in Assisted Living and the caregivers, Rosa, Andrea, and Ablon for their loving devotion to “Mama Queenie.”

Nina Conn Dahlstrom Stowers leaves five children, Nina Ambrosino, Patti Dahlstrom, Cheryl North, Ollabelle Hall and her husband, Gary, and Frederick Dahlstrom, eight grandchildren, Graham Ambrosino, Trevor Gipson, Christopher Gipson and his wife, Wendy, Helen Chaney and her husband, Phil, Caroline North, Patrick Hall and his wife, McKenzie, Preston Hall and his wife, Erin, and Will Dahlstrom and his wife Michelle, and 12 great-grand children, Electra and Will Gipson, Haley Gipson, Staton, Rhader and Brodie Chaney, Peyton, Davis and Emma Hall, Gary and Gardner Hall, and Mila Belle Dahlstrom.

Funeral service is to be conducted at ten o’clock in the morning on Monday, the 13th of March 2017, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1015 Holman Street at Main, Houston, TX 77004.

Billy and Nina founded the Trinity Endowment Board, which was close to their hearts, and in lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions would be greatly appreciated to Trinity Endowment, Trinity Episcopal Church, 1015 Holman St., Houston, Texas, 77004.