Monta Bower Obituary

Monta Jean Bower, 79, passed away on 24 May 2017 at the Kobacker House in Columbus. Ohio. She was born on June 9, 1937 in Exter, Missouri, to James and Lucy (Love) Langrell.



Jean grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and graduated from Lawrence High School in 1955. After high school she attended Kansas University in Lawrence Kansas for a year and a half. She then went to American Airlines Flight Attendant School in Dallas, Texas in 1957. She flew out of Dallas for a year and a half. Jean married First Lieutenant Ray Bower on October 3, 1959, in Lawrence, Kansas and they were happily married for 57 years.



Immediately following their wedding they were stationed in Wurzburg, Germany, where she began her life as a valued military wife, following her U. S. Air Force pilot husband all over the world; California, Kansas, Panama, South Dakota, and finally to Ohio, where they retired from the Air Force in 1976.



Jean was active with on-base organizations, The Officers Wives Club and The Welcome Wagon. She was a Brownie leader, worked for the HL Art Jewelry Store in downtown Newark, sang with the First United Methodist Church Choir for 30 years, volunteered with Twig 6 in Newark for over 25 years, ushered at the Weathervane Theater and was an active member of the Columbus Chapter of the Kiwi Club (former American Airline Flight Attendants).



She was an avid reader, loved to play golf, bowl, and play bridge. In retirement her great passion was traveling to Alaska to visit her daughter and her family and to several military bases in the U.S. and overseas to visit her son and his family. Jean is survived by her husband Ray of Newark, Ohio, her daughter, Cindi (Eric) Franklin of Anchorage, Alaska; her son, David (Annette) Bower of Powell, Ohio and her four grandchildren, Seth Franklin, Gillian Franklin, both of Anchorage, Alaska, Torre Bower, Taylor Bower, both of Powell, Ohio.



A Memorial Service will be held at 11AM, on Friday, June 30, 2017, at the First United Methodist Church, 88 North Fifth Street, in Newark. She will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, on July 6, 2017.



In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to The Twig 6, the Licking County Humane Society, or the First United Methodist Church of Newark.