Naomi Esther Williams Bowers

Naomi Esther Williams Bowers was born in Cedar Bayou, Texas on September 16, 1920. She passed away peacefully on December 24, 2019 in Baytown, Texas at the age of 99. Naomi was a great-granddaughter to Amos Barber, the original settler of Barber’s Hill. She grew up during the Depression Era in Cove, and she graduated from Barbers Hill High School in 1937. During that time, she met the love of her life, Adrian Bowers. At her insistence, they delayed getting married when he enlisted in November 1941 to serve in the Army Air Corps in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. During the war, she worked jobs at Woolworth and First National Bank. After Adrian returned from the war, they were married in 1946.

She stayed home to take care of her two daughters, and she was active as a volunteer at school and Girl Scouts activities. She was also an accomplished seamstress and stayed busy making clothes for her family and others.

In 1966, she went to work at Peoples State Bank as a teller in the note department. She retired from the bank in 1980, at which point she and Adrian began a long, active, and enjoyable retirement. They loved to take camping trips in their travel trailer, traveling across the country and Canada. Those trips often included their kids and grandkids.

Every Sunday afternoon, Naomi made elaborate meals for her extended family. Some of her specialties were homemade fried chicken, spaghetti and meatballs, fried shrimp, and crab soup. These meals always included several packages of Mrs. Baird’s rolls. She also baked delicious homemade pies and other desserts, and Naomi could even prepare fantastic meals while traveling with very limited cooking facilities.

Naomi loved spending time with her family, and she presided over many holiday celebrations at her home. She was the unquestionable matriarch of her family, most significantly as a powerful spiritual influence. She could often be found meekly reading her Bible in her chair, and she shared the wisdom she gained from God with her family and others. She supported her husband as a long-time elder of the Seventh Street Church of Christ. Her quiet, yet impactful, example led her family to obey the gospel and fostered their love of the Church.

Naomi was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Adrian Bowers, her parents, Claud and Josephine Williams; brothers Herschel Williams and Floyd Williams; and son-in-law Glenn Dagley. She is survived by daughters and son-in-law, Brenda and Ronnie Benoit and Melanie Dagley; grandchildren and their spouses, Brent and Christy Benoit, Bradley and Kelly Benoit, Brian and Spring Benoit, Jeremy and Jennifer Dagley, Justin and Kristin Dagley, Brandon and Amber Benoit, Jeffrey and Jessica Dagley, Brittney and Zachary Pinkerton, and Jessica and Patrick Robinson. She is also survived by twenty-eight beloved great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Her family will receive friends at Navarre Funeral Home, 2444 Rollingbrook Drive, Baytown, TX 77521, Friday, January 3, 2020, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. A funeral service will be held at Navarre Funeral Home on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Burial will follow at the Barber Family Cemetery in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Serving as pallbearers will be Brent Benoit, Bradley Benoit, Brian Benoit, Jeremy Dagley, Justin Dagley, Brandon Benoit, and Jeffrey Dagley. Serving as honorary pallbearers will be Ronnie Benoit, Zachary Pinkerton, Patrick Robinson, and Billy Ray Robertson.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Church of Christ India, 501 Kirchwood, Plainview, TX 79072-5809, or the Church of Christ Nigeria, P.O. Box 8792, The Woodlands, TX 77387.