Zij is getrouwd met Howard Donnette Ratchford.
Zij zijn getrouwd op 18 januari 1941, zij was toen 18 jaar oud.
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Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
Photo added by Liz Olmstead
Picture of
Added by Liz Olmstead
Picture of
Added by Liz Olmstead
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
BIRTH
18 Nov 1922
Gaffney, Cherokee County, South Carolina, USA
DEATH
3 Mar 2015 (aged 92)
Gastonia, Gaston County, North Carolina, USA
BURIAL
Westview Gardens
Bessemer City, Gaston County, North Carolina, USA
MEMORIAL ID
17653705 · View Source
MEMORIAL
PHOTOS 3
FLOWERS 1
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford, 92, died March 3, 2015 at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia.
She was born in Gaffney SC, November 18, 1922, daughter of the late James Thomas Bowen Sr. and Rosabell Gregory Bowen.
She was preceded in death by her brother, James Thomas Bowen, Jr. and sister, Juanita B. Ballew.
She grew up in High Shoals and attended Dallas High School where she met the love of her life, Don Ratchford. Her sister, Billie, also met the love of her life there, Boyce Flowers. The sisters married their best friends in a double ceremony in York, South Carolina on January 18, 1941.
Mabel and Don spent the next 44 years together raising their four sons and seldom leaving each other's side. They moved from High Shoals to Bessemer City and then to McAdenville so they could raise their sons in the environment of the town where they both worked for Pharr Yarns.
Three of their sons played for Holbrook High School with the fourth playing at South Point HS. They were always in the stands cheering their sons on. Mabel loved color and you could always spot her in the stands in her vibrant outfits. They followed their sons, all playing college baseball, on many road trips.
Upon retirement from Pharr Yarns, they set out for California and Hawaii. Upon their return, Don was diagnosed with a virulent form of cancer and Mabel slept in a chair beside Don's bed for 144 nights before he came home in February 1986.
When Don died in 1986, everyone assumed Mabel would just fall apart and be unable to take care of herself. She had a driver's license but Don had always taken her anywhere she wanted to go. She had never written a check or pumped her own gas.
Mabel also faced the specter of cancer. She became a resounding cancer survivor who never doubted she would defeat that disease.
Mabel, undaunted, took up the challenge at the age of 63 of becoming a modern, independent woman. She cut her grass, learned to drive and pump gas, chopped her own firewood and was constantly on the go. She always had time for her children and grandchildren even as she was in perpetual motion.
She was a faithful attendee at her church, Holy Comforter Lutheran, in Belmont. Her faith was very strong and important to her.
Mabel went to her high school reunion and renewed an old friendship with a classmate, Ray Mauney, who had also lost his spouse to cancer. Ray and Mabel spent many memorable evenings together – going out to eat, watching Mabel's beloved Atlanta Braves, bowling, dancing into the night, playing Rummikub with countless friends or just sitting quietly in front of the fireplace. Sadly, Ray died in 2010. Once again, Mabel reached into that deep well of strength and moved on with her life.
Her legacy of toughness tempered with love; ending all phone conversations with "I love you"; defying all odds to overcome adversity and the smile that always touched her beautiful brown eyes epitomized the loving daughter, friend, sister, wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and great grandmother we knew as Mom, Mabel, Nannie or Mrs. R. She and her dearly adored Don are now together…again…Forever.
Private family committal will be held at Westview Gardens Cemetery in Bessemer City prior to the service.
Published online: McLean Funeral Directors of Gastonia
Family Members
Spouse
Howard Donette Ratchford
1922–1986
Flowers
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Left by Liz Olmstead on 23 Jan 2007
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North Carolina Ratchford or Bowen
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Records on Ancestry
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
U.S., Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection, 1847-Current
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
1950 United States Federal Census
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
1930 United States Federal Census
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USA
North Carolina
Gaston County
Bessemer City
Westview Gardens
Mabel Julia Bowen Ratchford
Maintained by: MKS
Originally Created by: Liz Olmstead
Added: 23 Jan 2007
Find a Grave Memorial ID: 17653705
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Howard Donnette Ratchford |
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