Paulette Clay Bothwell Ewing

Paulette Clay Bothwell Ewing passed away quietly September 13, 2012 after over ten years with COPD. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Debbie, who died as an infant, and her parents, Harry and Lenora Bothwell. She is survived by her sister, Anne Harper, and her five children and their spouses--Laura Ewing and John Hull, Clay Ewing and Bozena Mrozek, Melissa Powell, Julie Ewing and James Gray, and Thomas and Tania Ewing--and her seven grandchildren: Ben Hull; Erin Powell-Nix and Joe Nix, Emily Powell, Ethan Powell; Hayley Gray, Wendy Gray; and John Ewing.

There is much to be said about anyone's life, and for Paulette--or Polly, as her friends knew her--there is no way to say too much. Polly Ewing will be recalled by many with great fondness as one who never failed to reach out a helping hand-up by word and deed. She was as a mother to as many as she was a friend, and until the very end was unwilling to relinquish those roles for anything.

She not only managed a large household while raising her children, but ultimately both managed existing businesses and started a few of her own and made them successful. At a time long after suffrage but before the word 'feminist' (which she did not appreciate being called) came into common use, she raised her three daughters to believe in themselves and make their own way, and her two sons to believe both women and men should have the same strengths. It was not feminism or women power she believed in, but the power of the individual regardless of gender, race or social class, and she strove to teach her children this fundamental trait, and the world through her actions.

As an 18-year cancer survivor, please make donations in her name to the American Cancer Society or the Livestrong Foundation; or the COPD Foundation.

A service will be held in Englewood, at 2600 Jones Road, Austin, in their chapel, on the second floor, on September 30, 2012, at 2 p.m.

A funeral service will be held in Tyler, Texas, on October 27th, at a time and place as yet to be determined.