Obituary of Janet M. Bowen

Janet Margaret Dennis Bowen, 79, died peacefully on Friday, December 10, 2021, at Glens Falls Hospital due to complications related to a fall she experienced in October. Janet was born February 15, 1942, at Park Hospital in Queens to loving parents Florence Bender and John Dennis and the family lived in New Hyde Park, Long Island. After high school, Jan attended college at the University of Albany and left with her degree and her husband for the next 58 years of her life, Sherwin R. Bowen. The Bowens domiciled in Greenwich, New York starting in 1963 and lived in houses at Whipple Place, Academy Street, and Corliss Avenue before settling on Prospect Street. In the early 1970s, Janet blazed a trail in the world of locally owned business female entrepreneurship by joining forces with business partners Eleanor McNeil and Betsy Spigner in the knitting, fabric, and sewing business, stitches. Shortly thereafter, the business moved to Main Street in Greenwich and eventually Jan became sole proprietor of the Greenwich business and opened another stitches in Glens Falls, NY. Janet’s business success was based on her integrity and honesty in service to customers, and always with a bit of humor thrown in for good measure. After closing her retail establishments, Janet continued to exercise her expertise in sewing with superior custom dressmaking and her works were the highlight of numerous weddings, proms, and special events in the Capital Region over the years. Later in life, when physical challenges limited her ability to sew, she attacked crossword puzzles with vigilance and joined Boney at nearly all women’s and men’s basketball games at UAlbany for the past several decades with cheers of encouragement and jeers to ‘Practice!’ for every missed free throw by a Great Dane. Janet was an avid reader of real books and belonged to a local book club which is one of the few in the world that actually read and discussed the books, a fact she was very proud of. She loved owls and snails, and many adorned the walls and nooks of her home, and the snail was the logo of stitches. Although Janet loved gardening, her self-proclaimed ‘brown thumb’ resulted in the untimely passing of far too many flowers. Luckily out of reach, birds were a much more fruitful love for Janet as she logged new sightings at the backyard porch on Prospect Street. True to her appreciation of the arts, birds represented all the freedom, beauty, and musical joy that Janet loved so much in life. Janet was preceded in death by her mother Florence, father John, brothers Edward and Robert, and sister-in-law Shirley and brother-in-law Tommy. She is survived by the love of her life, Sherwin Ralph ‘Boney’ Bowen, of Greenwich, son Eric Bowen and life partner Sara Malley of Knoxville, TN with grand pets’ dogs Kaiah Papaya and Tuukka Eichel and kitties Louie and Burnzie, who loved their grandma very much. Janet will be missed dearly by sisters-in-law Suzanne, Dee, and Suzan, nieces Shelley, Tanya, Sierra and Sasha, and nephews Michael, James, Gary, and Jesse. In lieu of memorial services, the family is planning a celebration of life for her 80th birthday in mid-February 2022. Details of the event will be sent to family and friends shortly. Donations in honor of Janet may be made to local organizations she supported throughout her life, the Easton-Greenwich Rescue Squad (P.O. Box 84, Greenwich, NY 12834, facebook.com/eastongreenwichrescuesquad), and the Greenwich Free Library (148 Main Street, Greenwich, NY 12834, greenwichfreelibrary.org). Janet will be forever remembered and loved by her family and friends. She remained in good spirits and courageously fought every one of the numerous health and mental health obstacles in her path later in life. Her last coherent words were so Jan. With her trademark wit and humor, just before she received another round of pain medicine, she looked at Sherwin and Eric and said, “So, are we having fun yet?” Rest in comfort and peace forever, Janet. Online condolences and messages to the family may be made at www.flynnbrosinc.com