Sara Shipley Bowers

Sara "Sally" Shipley Bowers, 82, departed this life on July 7, 2018. Fort Smith has a lost a true princess. Sally was born on May 15, 1936, the fourth child of a thriving bakery family, Shipley Baking Company. She attended Fort Smith Public Schools and graduated from Fort Smith Senior High School in 1953. She attended Stratford College in Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she met the father of her daughters, Robert Morgan Powell. North Carolina was also where her love for the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity began as a member of the North Carolina Alpha Chapter. She would later serve as President of the Fort Smith Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club and became involved at a national level serving first as the National Director of House Corporations and finally as Grand Vice President of Alumnae on Grand Council. Sally loved the Pi Phi's-Ring Ching! Sally was an active member of Saint John's Episcopal Church and found her calling singing in the choir for many years. She also served on Saint John's altar guild and participated as a Eucharistic visitor. Sally was a member of the Junior League of Fort Smith, Delta Beta Sigma Sorority and the Fort Smith Rose Society (where she competed and won many awards on roses from her personal garden). She was one of the original one hundred founding members of the Fort Smith Garden Club at Hardscrabble Country Club. Sally was a competitive bridge player and considered herself a Master at Mah Jongg. She prided herself on teaching and sharing her love of Mah Jongg with both friends and brand new acquaintances. Sally never met a stranger. Sally and Don enjoyed forty-four years of marriage during which time they shared a love of books and travel, enjoying much of their leisure time in their Colorado and New Mexico homes. Sally was preceded in death by her parents, Benjamin Harrison Shipley Sr., and Maud Curtis Shipley; husband, Donald Stark Bowers Sr.; her brother, Harry Shipley Jr.; her sister, Juda Jane Shipley Holder; and Donald Stark Bowers Jr. and John Russell Bowers Sr. She is survived by her loving brother, Curtis "Bubby" Shipley and his wife, Jane, of Fayetteville, Ark.; her daughters, Carolyn Powell Hartley and husband, Ken, of Dallas, Texas, and children, Taylor Kenneth Hartley of West Hollywood, Calif., Mackenzie Powell Hartley of Ardmore, Okla., and Kelso Wayne Hartley of Dallas, Texas; Maud Powell Mulvany and husband, Steve, of Coronado, Calif., and children, Robert Booth Ramsay of Santa Monica, Calif., Sara Morgan Ramsay and Allison Ainsley Ramsay of San Diego, Calif.; and Annie Powell Hendricks and husband, Andy, of Fort Smith and children, Emma Maud Hendricks of Fayetteville, Ark., Rachel McClain Hendricks and Andrew Powell Hendricks of Fort Smith; step-son, David Louis Bowers, and wife, Jane, and son, Grant Bowers of Fort Smith; step-daughter, Ann Bowers Kinder and husband, Paul, and children, Victoria Sweatman Schmitt and Catherine Sweatman Hittner, and great-grandchildren of Fort Smith; and grandchildren, Rosalie Russell Bowers and great-grandchildren of Fort Smith and John Russell Bowers Jr.; and many Holder and Shipley nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews and god-daughters Kate Boreham Maurras and Debe Boreham Vicharelli. Service will be Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at 11 a.m. at Saint John's Episcopal Church under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home. A reception will immediately follow the service at Hardscrabble Country Club at 1 p.m. Sally's grandchildren will serve as honorary pallbearers. Memorials may be made to Saint John's Episcopal Church and Mercy Hospice. We would like to thank Mom's many caregivers both private and those associated with Grace at Home Senior Care - they were so sweet, loving and gentle with her in the past months. To sign an on guestbook, visit www.edwardsfuneralhome.com.