Margaret Flynn Bowie

Margaret Flynn Bowie, 97, died Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at the South Carolina Episcopal Home at Still Hopes, West Columbia, SC. Born in Abbeville on August 25, 1909, she was the daughter of the late Norma Fuller Flynn and George Louis Flynn. She graduated from Abbeville High School and Winthrop College and was a true champion of Abbeville and Abbeville County. She devoted her life to the betterment of the Abbeville community and its people. Margaret Bowie is best known for her over 30 years of service to the Burt-Stark Mansion where she served in many capacities, including commission chairman and docent... She was instrumental in having the mansion, the site of the last meeting of the Confederate cabinet, designated by the US Department of the Interior as a National Landmark. She was the first chairman of the Abbeville Recreation Commission in 1946 and as a result of her leadership, Abbevillea?(TM)s first public swimming pool and tennis courts were built. She gave years of service to many organizations including the Upper Savannah Preservation Commission, Daffodil Garden Club, Zoning Board for the City of Abbeville, Literary Lantern Book Club, Abbeville Community Theater, Co-chairman of the Tri-centennial Celebration in 1970, Historic Abbeville Tourism Commission, Abbeville County Red Cross, Upper Savannah Council of Government, Confederation of S.C. Historical Societies, Old Abbeville District Historical Society and the Old Ninety Six Tourism Commission. She served ten years on the board of Piedmont Technical College and was a board member Emeritus . She received many awards and recognition through the years and was presented the Order of the Palmetto by the State Treasurer, the Honorable Grady Patterson, on behalf of Governor Carroll Campbell in 1994. She was named 1978 Woman of the Year by the Pilot Club and inducted into the Abbeville County Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1994 she was named the Outstanding Older South Carolinian for the Upper Savannah Region and in 1999 received the Robert N. Pryor Volunteer Service Award from the Confederation of S.C. Local Historical Societies. She was named a Southern Patriot by the League of the South in 2001. She was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Abbeville and formerly a member of the Abbeville Presbyterian Church where she served as Sunday School teacher and Circle Leader. She also taught special education at Sharon and Wright Middle Schools and taught adult reading classes without compensation. She married William Godbold (Willie) Bowie in 1931 and they had two sons, William G. (Bill) Bowie, Jr. and George Flynn Bowie. She was predeceased by her husband and son, Bill. She is survived by her son, Flynn, and his wife, Anne, and by grandchildren, George Flynn Bowie, Jr. and his wife, Katherine, Amelia Bowie Hewitt and her husband Rick, and James Sheridan Bowie, all of Columbia, SC. Great grandchildren are Elizabeth McLanahan Bowie, George Flynn Bowie, III, Richard Furman Hewitt, III and Margaret St. Claire Hewitt. She is also survived by a sister, Nelle Flynn Nickles of Abbeville, SC, a niece, Margaret G. Thomas and three nephews, William Franklin (Teto) Nickles, III, William H. Gilleland, Jr. and Benjamin C. Gilleland. Funeral Services will be 2:00PM Saturday, May 19, 2007 in the Harris Funeral Home Chapel with burial following in the family plot in Long Cane Cemetery. The family requests that memorials be made to the Abbeville County Historical Preservation Commission for the benefit of the Burt-Stark Mansion, P.O. Box 164, Abbeville, SC 29620. Online condolences may be sent to the Bowie family by visiting www.harrisfuneral.com HARRIS FUNERAL HOME, of Abbeville is assisting the Bowie family.