Deborah Ann Bowman

Those we love don't go away,

They walk beside us everyday,

Unseen, unheard, but always near,

Still loved, still missed, and very dear.

                                                                Lovingly, Ceirra ~ (your great-niece)

             DEBORAH ANN BOWMAN, age 64, died peacefully in her sleep on Thursday August 12, 2021, in Austin, TX, and is now rejoicing in the presence of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          Deborah was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, on January 23, 1957, the second of six children born to Clarence Howard Bowman, Sr., and Edith May Bowman.  She served in the U. S. Air Force for many years before settling in Austin over 20 years ago.  She worked for several years at H.E.B. grocery company, where she became an excellent baker, before going to work at Austin Disaster Relief Network as Executive Administrator and Survivor Support Coordinator five years ago. 

       Deborah is remembered as one who loved and served Jesus above everything else in her life.  While growing up in Coatesville, she would gather up her siblings and neighborhood children to go on “hikes”, where they somehow always end up “across the bridge at the Dairy Queen”, where she would buy ice cream for everyone.  She would also make tuna fish sandwiches by the dozens and feed them to anyone who wanted one.  She also kept after her siblings on Saturdays to get their chores done without a lot of “fooling around”.  From the very beginning of her life, she served the Lord by serving and looking after others.  She later attended Coatesville Senior High School, where she graduated in 1974.  She also faithfully made sure all of her siblings made it to Sunday School and church every Sunday morning at Bethel A.M.E. Church, where almost all of her extended family still worships.  When guys would try to date her in her teen years, she would demure, saying that the Lord was her true husband and she was going to serve Him all the days of her life.  Her brother, Charles, remembers her as a “child evangelist” who “attracted kids like a magnet attracts steel.”

         Her love of children extended to her nieces and nephews, as well as to many, many children who lived in her Austin neighborhood or who attended Crossroads Christian House of Prayer Church.  Deborah taught Bible classes and was a willing taxi service for many of the children who needed rides to church, school or other activities.

          Deborah’s favorite statement, which best sums up her life and was posted in a picture on her office wall, was: “Created of God, for God, and by God - I am blessed and highly favored by God!! Awesomely challenged, yet supernaturally persevering in Christ Jesus!! Loving every minute of it!! Counting the victories along the way!! And just enjoying walking in my Father’s glory!!”

          Deborah was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, Clarence Howard Bowman, Jr., one nephew and one niece.  She is survived by her brothers, Charles Bowman and John Henry Bowman, and her sisters, Dorothy Famotibe and Jacqueline Tony, 10 nieces and nephews and several great-nieces and -nephews.

          In lieu of flowers, donations may also be made to her beloved:

Crossroads Christian House of Prayer Church

5201 E William Cannon Drive

Austin, Texas  78744

or, to Austin Disaster Relief Network at www.adrn.org 

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