Barbara Cleo Brooks Bowman, born January 9, 1925 in Orange Grove, Texas passed away in her home in Meyersville on Friday, December 17, 2021 at the age of 96. Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, William Ervin Brooks and Ella Treybig Brooks of Taft; two sisters, Gloria Brooks of Houston and Mary Syma of Taft; her husband, Volus L. Bowman of Meyersville; her daughter, Carol Kavakos of Corpus Christi and her grandson, Karsten Kavakos of Corpus Christi.

She is survived by her sister, Margie Beauchamp of Austin; her son, Thomas Bowman (wife, Paula) of Plano; her daughter, Bev Hill (husband, Dale) of Meyersville; grandchildren, Lissa DeCarrie, Diana Kavakos, Matthew Bowman, Sarah Foringer, Claudia Quintero and Bethany Schlotter; great-grandchildren, Trista, Caleb, Julian, Evan, Jaxson and Jett and great-great grandchildren, Scarlet and Dylan.

Barbara spent her school years in Taft and Corpus Christi and then earned a BS degree from Abilene Christian College during WWII years. Her major was Chemistry with a minor in German. Chemistry was her passion and she worked several places during her career, including working at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, working with research doctors at U.N.M. researching kidney disease, and her first job, translating German microfilm immediately after WWII to help obtain the formula for synthetic rubber for the U.S. from Germany.

After moving with her family back to Texas, she worked as a teacher of Science and Math for a few years at Taft Jr. High School and then worked as a Foster Parent Trainer for the state of Texas until retirement, blending her natural gift of teaching with her strong family values to touch the hearts of many children and their families during this time. She met Volus, her lifelong love after he served during WWII and they were married over 60 years, a team that could not be matched.

She was always serving and faithful to Christ and her church family as well as her own family and community. Barbara excelled at teaching, organizing and helping at every church she was a member of and also spent several years serving as a volunteer in her church library and as a volunteer in Family Outreach, a community service. She placed very high value in both her immediate family and her extended family, and expressed it often with both her words and her actions.

She will be missed immensely by all who were a part of her life.

A Memorial Service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to South Texas Children's Home in Beeville or First Baptist Church.