Martha Elton Bowman

Martha Elton Bowman, (Mrs. B.), 94, of Mt. Jackson, passed away Wednesday, September 26, 2001 at her home.

 Mrs. Bowman was born January 19, 1907 in Ball Ground, Georgia and was the daughter of the late Charles Winfield and Annie Newland Cadwallader. 

In 1927, she married Gordon Derwood Bowman, who predeceased her. 

She attended Triplett High School, graduating Valedictorian in 1923 and graduated from Dunsmore Business College in 1924. She began working at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Va., where she worked in the Office of Registrar and Commandant before becoming secretary to the Dean of the School for Agriculture. Later, upon returning to Mt. Jackson, she was the secretary / bookkeeper at the Mt. Jackson Mill. She joined with her husband founding Bowman Apple Products Company in 1939, where she initially handled the bookkeeping and held the office of Vice President until her retirement in 1999. She was a member of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Mt. Jackson. 

She is survived by one son, Gordon Derwood "Sonny" Bowman, II, Mt. Jackson, Va.; two daughters, Peggy Bowman Zirkle, College Park, Md., and Patricia Bowman Jordan of Almogorda, New Mexico; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. 

The Rev. W. W. Pendleton will conduct the funeral at 2 p.m. on Friday at the Dellinger Funeral Chapel, Mt. Jackson, Va. Burial will follow at Mt. Jackson Cemetery. 

The family will receive friends at the Dellinger Funeral Home in Mt. Jackson on Thursday evening, September 27, 2001, between 6 and 8 p.m. or at the Bowman home anytime. Honorary pallbearers will be the Board of Directors of Bowman Apple Products Company, present and former employees of Bowman Apple Products Company, Inc., and her caregivers.