Emeliana J Bowers

Emeliana J. Bowers was born on January 6, 1924 in CotCot, Cebu, the Philippines to Potenciana Cogal and Lucio Jugalbot. She left this earth to join her beloved husband Roy Geron Bowers among the Angels on January 26, 2015 at the age of 91.

Emelia lived a life that was truly amazing. At the age of 4 she lost her mother to an accident and lived with her father, Aunt, and Grandmother. She did not have a lot of book learning having left school after finishing the second grade, but she was an intelligent person and knew what it took to survive in this world.

At the age of 18 WWII began and when the Japanese invaded her island, she was forced to run to the jungles. She and a small group of strangers stayed in the jungle for a year, hiding and surviving on whatever they could find to eat. They returned home when the majority of the fighting had stopped. When the Americans came to take the island back in 1944, she was forced to run again. This time she met up with five friends who ran with her. The three males died from malaria, and the three women, though sick, survived. In December of 1945, eleven months later, they were almost shot by a Filipino soldier who encountered them looking for food near a creek bed. He told them the fighting on the island had stopped in August five months earlier, and the Americans were back.

She was brought back down the mountain on a Carabou because she was too sick with malaria to walk. Soon after returning, with the help of drugs, she was well. A month later, on the beach watching the boats, she saw young people laughing and yelling they were going to Japan to work. They looked like they were having fun so she joiined them as they walked…right onto the ship. It did not register that she was going to Japan for good. A year later she went to Okinawa where she married her husband Roy. It was fifty years before she returned to her homeland!

Roy was in the Army and they moved around often. She would often tell her friends that she had been to seventeen countries. When Roy retired from the Army in 1966, they settled down in Copperas Cove, Texas. Emelia was a resident of the town for fifty years.

Emelia was active her whol life and remained so up to the day she died. She loved people and every week was seen bringing cakes to her friends. She could not go to the Doctors office without a cake in her hands or her Doctor. Everyone knew about her oatmeal/coconut cake and her applesauce loaf. She was a smiling piece of Heaven.

One passion Emelia had was bowling. She began bowling in leagues in 1954 in Stuttgart, Germany. She continued to bowl in leagues and tournaments until the age of 89 when a leg problem made her quit. She and Roy began going to Las Vegas for a Senior tournament every year beginning in 1983. Her last tournament in Las Vegas was in 2013. At the tournament they announced that Emelia had attened more tournaments there than anyone present. She was beaming over the accomplishment.

Emelia was also a devoted member of the Holy Family Church of Copperas Cove. She joined the church in 1965 and was a member for 50 years. She worked at the church food bank for 17 years and stopped only due to health. Every morning at 5:00 am she would rise and spend an hour in prayer and do the rosary. She was truly a devoted follower of our Lord.

There was nothing more precious to her than her family. She was so proud of her children and grandchildren and wouldl brag about them to anyone who would listen. The pride she felt because nearly all of them had finished college in spite of her lack of education was always visible.

Emelia was proceded in death by her husband Roy Bowers, her parents, six brothers and one sister. As irony would have it, Emelia and her sister Pasing of the Philippines both passed away this week and will be buried on Saturday, an Ocean apart.

Emelia is survived by her son Jim Bowers, daughters Erlinda McIntire (David), Elizabeth Lou Howell (Fred), Louise Watkins, and Terry Griggs (Roger), nine grandchildren, nine great grandchildren and two great,great grandchildren.

Visitation will be on Friday at the Crawford Bowers Funeral Home Chapel in Copperas Cove from 1:00-3:00 pm with Rosary to follow at 3:00. Funeral will be Saturday at Holy Family Catholic Church at 11:00 am with buriel at the Copperas Cove City Cemetary. A reception to celebrate her life will follow the buriel at the Church Social Hall.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Vincent dePaul food bank sponsored by the Holy Family Church where Emelia donated her time.