Sally Marie Bower

Sally Bower died June 20 in San Antonio at age 84 after years of coping with dementia and cancer. She was born November 14, 1931, at the home of her parents, H.C. and LInnie Leatherman in Parker County, Texas, as the Depression was gripping West Texas. Storm winds blew out the windows of their Weatherford home just as Sally was being born, and her father joked that Sally was a force as strong as any swirling and active storm. She would say, "I'm not bossy; I just have better ideas."

She graduated from San Angelo High School and immediately set off to the big city of Dallas. She worked as a nurse's aid, a Neiman-Marcus model, and a secretary at an insurance company, where she met her first husband, Don Wolf. They had three children, two of whom survive her, Sheri Rosen of San Antonio and Mark Wolf of Winchester, KY. Don Wolf, Jr., died in 2015. After raising her children into high school and being a homemaker, Sally became, to use her word, an entrepreneur.

She grew a neighborhood gift shop into a chain of more than a dozen stores in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio that first introduced James Avery Jewelry in a retail setting and became a showplace for future Hallmark Cards store interior trends and gifts. Through Hallmark she met her second husband, Hugh Bower, Hallmark Cards marketing executive.

They retired from retail and started cattle ranching in Marysville, Texas, before retiring again to San Antonio. In addition to her children, Sally is survived by Sheri's two children, Daniel and Allison; by Mark's sons Mark, Jr., and Michael; and by Don Jr.'s wife Becky and children Don III, Reid, Meghan, Philip, and Kate.

A graveside service will be held at Ft. Sam National Cemetery, on June 22nd, at 9:30 AM and she will be buried there with Hugh Bower.

She is remembered as an exceptional hostess, continually smiling and pushing through any adversity, and a world traveler, with a deep faith and love of family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in her name to the Alzheimer's Association, the Lymphoma Research Foundation, or the South Texas Institute for Alzheimer and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health Science Center at San Antonio's Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies. Prayerful thanks go to Heritage Creek senior living center and Encompass Hospice.