Madeline Maxine Sowers

10/19/1916 - 09/16/2010

Madeline Maxine
(Grandma) Sowers
Madeline Maxine (Grandma) Sowers was born on October 19, 1916 to Walfred and Julia Anderson in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She had an older brother Phillip Kenneth who was four years old when she was born. He died at the age of five.
Madeline loved to sing and had wanted to be an operatic singer. She made a few recordings, but her career never blossomed. However, in 1944, just before the end of WWII, love blossomed when she met and married a handsome young serviceman, Donavon Sowers. They were very happily married for 46 years until Donavon's death in 1991.
Their son Phillip was born in 1945 and the family moved to California after the war ended. Their son, Steven, was born in 1955. They lived in Hawthorne and then Palos Verdes, CA. Madeline enjoyed being a homemaker and spent many years in the PTA. She was also very involved in her sons' Little League and Middle League where they made some very close and life-long friends. Madeline enjoyed managing the snack bar in Little League and was proud that it showed a profit for the first time and from then on. She was an honest woman!
Don and Madeline took many wonderful vacations in their motorhome. When Don retired in 1984, they decided to join some of their close friends who had moved to Yuma, AZ. So, they sold their home in Palos Verdes and two days after Don retired, the moving van came to take all their belongings to the new lovely mobile home that they had purchased. That last night in the house, with all their furniture on it's way to Yuma, they threw down some blankets and went to sleep on the floor. In the morning when they awoke, they realized they could have and should have slept in the motorhome, which was parked in their driveway. They laughed about that for years. They spent the next seven years enjoying many more fun times with their friends and traveling by motorhome around the U.S. with three trips to Alaska and the Northwest Territory.
After Don died, Madeline traveled on her own by plane to visit her family. She would fly to see Phillip and his family in Santa Maria, Steven and his family in Seattle, WA, and her grandson, Brian and his family in Goodyear, AZ. She also flew a few times to visit other family members in Sioux Falls, SD. It was only in the last two years that she even needed assistance getting on the planes.
She's spent at least a month every summer in Washington with Steven, Beth and their daughters. There was always lots of activity with the girls school events and soccer and other sports that they were all involved in. They'd take "Grandma" everywhere. She also spent every other Christmas with them. Opposite Christmas's were with Phil and his family. But in 2008 when her first great grandson was born, even though it was Phil's turn to have grandma for Christmas, she flew to Washington to be there for the arrival of Bradley Donavon Sutton. What a blessing that was for her.
Madeline liked coming to church, but she had been deaf in one ear since childhood and increasingly hard of hearing in the other ear. She just couldn't understand the "new music" and wasn't able to sing without knowing the tunes. She understood a few words of Pastor Bloom's, enough to say, "Boy he sure is a funny man." She loved coming to church on Christmas and Easter services especially…. and, she knew the songs.
Grandma also loved to get dressed up and go out on special occasions. Any occasion would do. And any place that served drinks was okay with her. On a couple of her birthdays, Phil and Pat were out of town and her grandson, Tony and his wife Julie took her out to dinner. She would have a couple of drinks and talk loudly, partly because of the drinks and partly because of her deafness. You never knew what she might say and Tony and Julie would laugh and hide their faces. Last year, Pat called Tony and jokingly told him that she and Phil would be out of town on Madeline's birthday. Tony said, "Well how convenient is that!!!" Pat laughed and said, "No, no, no, we'll be here, we just wanted to invite you guys to come and celebrate with us." Phil and Pat still laugh about that.
Madeline was a tough lady. You have to be to live for 93 years. In 1986 while traveling with Don, Madeline had a heart attack. Then in 2005 while still living alone in Yuma, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Her doctor did not want her to live alone anymore, so her son Phil, at Pat's request, moved her to Santa Maria to live with them. In June of that year, Madeline fell and broke her hip and had hip replacement surgery. In 2007 she was treated for breast cancer. She recovered swiftly from all of these health issues. Everyone who knew her was amazed at her stamina, her sense of humor and her enjoyment and love of people.
She especially expressed that love for her family of whom she was tremendously proud. She is survived by her son, Phillip, his wife Pat and their two sons, Brian Sowers and Tony Payne, Brian's wife, Susan, their children Brent and Rachel, Tony's wife Julie and their, about to arrive very soon, any day now, baby; Steven, his wife Beth, granddaughter Michelle, her husband Adam, great grandson Bradley Donovan, and another soon to arrive great grandbaby, and granddaughters Kristine, Claire and Stephanie.
Madeline and Don loved to camp at Twin Lakes, CA, up around Bishop and Bridgeport in the High Sierras. Madeline asked that her ashes, along with Don's ashes be taken there.
For all the laughs, all the memories, and all the love we've shared, we love you, we thank you, and we'll miss you, Mom, Grandma, Our Dear Friend.
A memorial service will be held on Monday, September 27, 2010 at 4:30 pm at Pacific Christian Center.
Arrangements are under the direction of Dudley-Hoffman Mortuary, Crematory and Memory Gardens.
Dudley-Hoffman
Mortuary & Crematory
(805) 922-8463
www.dudleyhoffmanmortuary.com