Our beautiful sister, aunt, friend, and warrior, Deborah F. Bowers, passed away peacefully on Monday October 4, 2021 after a fourteen-year journey with Multiple Myeloma.
Born in Acushnet, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of the late Arnold W. “Woody” and Evelyn (Vasconcelles) Bowers. Debbie was a 1970 graduate of Dartmouth High School. She was a member of many clubs, played basketball and softball, and was a cheerleader with an infectious spirit and beautiful smile that won her the “Best Smile” superlative at graduation.
She went on to study at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island and found her passion for travel and tourism. Starting out as a tour guide with International Weekends, her first assignment landed her on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. After many assignments all over the world, Debbie came back to Puerto Rico, her first love, and made it home. It was here in San Juan that she began her long career with Eastern Airlines. She held many positions with the airline including service agent and sales but her ultimate favorite was cruise ship coordinator for the air and sea program. It was in this position that she, unknowingly, met her future brother-in-law and by promoting her sister for employment aboard her favorite ship, the Cunard Princess, she assured their meeting and the rest is history.
Debbie continued working for Eastern until a crippling strike dissolved the airline in 1991. Ever the entrepreneur, she began her own floral and gift basket business catering to some of the island’s prestigious businesses such as Goya, Empresas Villamil, Banco Popular, and Bacardi. She loved Puerto Rico, loved the people, spoke their language fluently, and was loved back by so many. We are blessed to call them our family!
The island was home for Debbie until her Multiple Myeloma diagnosis in 2009 when she returned home to Dartmouth to begin her fight at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Together with Dr. Nikhil C. Minshi, Tina Flaherty NP, and Dr. Mark Shparber, a plan was made and with some cutting-edge treatments and two stem cell transplants we got fourteen more glorious years with our little warrior and for that, and them, we are truly thankful!
Anyone who knew Debbie knew right away that she genuinely cared about everyone she met. She loved people and they loved her right back! She loved their kids and they loved her right back! She loved their dogs and they loved her right back! And she loved her gadgets and electronics. There was nothing she didn’t know about anything Apple. She would spend hours walking friends through a reboot or a new download. We called her the Eveready Bunny!
Debbie never stopped …. she golfed in two ladies leagues, bowled in a ladies league, and played pickleball at least twice a week. Her photography has won awards and been featured in local publications but she would tell you that her greatest photo win was having one of her photos chosen to hang in the guest rooms at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.
In addition to her 19,000 photographs, Debbie leaves behind her two sisters, Gail Marchetta and her husband Giovanni and Susan Murray and her husband Roderick, and her two brothers, Arnold “Skip” Bowers and his wife Jackie and Robert Bowers and his wife Maureen. She was also be missed by her two nieces, Jenna Bowers and Alessandra French and her two nephews, Robert “Bobby” Bowers and Ryan Bowers, two great-nieces, Madalyn French and Emerson Bowers and a great-nephew, Lucas French.
At her request, funeral services will be private and she will be buried with her Mom and Dad at Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven, MA. Arrangements are by the Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals, 495 Park St., New Bedford. For online condolence book, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.