BARBARA MAY ROWELL

Rowell, Barbara May (Bowman) 93, passed away on Sunday, June 8, 2014 in the Beverly Hospital. Born in Boston, Bunny, as she was known by her friends and family, was the daughter of Oscar Lewis Bowman and Bertha May (Welch) Bowman. She was a lifelong resident of Beverly and Ipswich, where she kept a summer cottage. Educated at Shore Country Day School of Beverly and Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, she was a 1943 graduate of Emerson College. Prior to her marriage to the love of her life, the late Russell J. Rowell, M.D., she taught at the Chapel Hill School in Waltham. Devoted to her husband, whom she had met as a teenager, she supported his career as a Beverly physician by being active in the Hospital Aid of which she became President in 1960 and Trustee of Beverly Hospital. Charitable work would occupy a large portion of her life. She served on the board of the North Shore Community Arts Foundation, which created the North Shore Music Theatre, was the President of the Children's Friend and Family Service Association in Salem, Trustee of the Wang Center for the Performing Arts, President of the Boston Opera Association and a Trustee of Emerson College. For a brief period in the 1970's Bunny taught at the Landmark School in Pride's Crossing which she found rewarding. Most of all, she loved her family, home, summers in Ipswich and annual Bermuda vacations. Bunny was a longtime member of the Essex County Club in Manchester by the Sea and the Chilton Club in Boston. Bunny is survived by her devoted son, Bradford of Beverly Farms and his wife, Abbe Ross, and predeceased by her eldest son, James and her loving husband, Russell. A celebration of Bunny's life will take at St. John's Episcopal Church, 705 Hale Street, Beverly Farms, MA on Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be private. Arrangements by the Campbell Funeral Home, 525 Cabot Street, Beverly. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Dr. James R. Rowell, Jr. Memorial Scholarship at the North Shore Community College Foundation, 1 Ferncroft Road, P.O. Box 3340, Danvers, MA 01923 Attn: Sandra Edwards or to Emerson College, Office of Development, 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116, Attn: Barbara Rutberg. Online condolences at www.campbellfuneral.com.