Rebecca "Norris" Fowler

Westbrook - Rebecca 'Norris' Fowler passed away on Feb. 27, 2010, at the age of 97, though she liked to say 98.

Born on Sept. 12, 1912, Rebecca 'Norris' Lucretia Woodbridge Shaw Perkins Nevins Bingham Fowler inherited her many names from a family full of loving maiden aunts and bachelor uncles.

Known as Norris, she liked to say she was the last of the Nevins and was always proud of her New England and Virginia roots. She lived life with passion and verve, ever true to self. Always a beauty, she broke many a heart before marrying Mitchell Bingham of the Salem Binghams.

She had three children, Nathaniel, Russell and Lucretia with Bingham but her adventurous spirit led her to marry another, Wesley Fowler. They chartered a tramp steamer and set off to explore self-sufficient life on a very isolated out-island of the Bahamas. While there, she raised her children, many dogs, goats and other wild animals. She hunted for buried treasure there, ever sure her fortune was one rainbow away.

In later years, she found and refurbished with her own hands, an old mill in Spain and turned it into an oasis of beauty which she cherished and loved for many decades. There she galloped her horses through unfenced fields, entertained many friends with her wonderful home-cooked meals, plunged into her spring fed pool every morning, and mowed her own lawns well into her 80s.

During the last seven years of her long life she has lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Jim Fitzpatrick, at the Talcott House in Westbrook. Many residents got used to the sight of the nonagenarian walking her beloved dog Rosie in all weathers. She oft told all listeners of how she had been tossed by a "vaca brava" (fighting bull) in her 80s and lived to tell the tale.

Her resilience and independence taught her children how to live their own best lives which was a tremendous gift. Norris was a force of nature, and the world is just slightly more boring without her. We all loved her sense of the ridiculous, her adventurousness, her curiosity and her charm.

She is survived by her son, Russell Bingham, MD, and wife, Paula, of Old Lyme, her daughter, Lucretia Bingham of Westbrook; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her son Nathaniel Bingham predeceased her.

She will be sorely missed.

Norris asked that her body be donated to Yale Medical School but her spirit is flying free. There will be a loving celebration of her life at 3 p.m. on April 17, 2010, at the Talcott House in Westbrook.