Claire Bowen (11-12-23) no services to announce at this time

Claire Lucile Bowen, of Savannah, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 12, after a brief illness. She was the beloved daughter of the late John Y. and Wilma Bowen.

While she did not leave any immediate family, she considered many friends and cousins as her family.

Claire graduated from Central High School in Savannah in 1948 as Valedictorian and from Vanderbilt University in 1952. After graduation, she took a year to travel around the world by steamship before pursuing her career as an educator.

Claire lived many years in Atlanta, Georgia, teaching the public school system, first in elementary then in high school, sharing her love of English, Literature and History. She also earned her Master’s Degree from Georgia State University during this time.

In the 1970s she attended a summer program at Memphis State University on Aerospace and enjoyed the class so much, she returned several summers to help teach the class. This program allowed her to travel with students to many aerospace programs around the country.

She retired from teaching and returned to her hometown of Savannah, Tennessee, to care for her mother, but Claire never retired from learning. She was an avid traveler and continued throughout her life to take extensive trips, sometimes with the Road Scholar program and sometimes on her own.

While in Atlanta, Claire belonged to a gourmet dinner group and often sought out friends to accompany her to try new restaurants in the area after she returned to Savannah.

Claire spent her life in seeking ways to serve others. In 1985, while living in Atlanta, she was invited to join PEO, an organization that promotes educational opportunities for women. She loved PEO and was instrumental in organizing a chapter in Savannah. She was constantly looking for candidates for the scholarships and funding offered through this group. Claire was also a member of Friends of the Library, Savannah Book Club and several Bible Study groups. She was a member of Cumberland Presbyterian Church and also attended First United Presbyterian Church.

Claire quietly supported many charity groups through donations of time and money. She was always thinking of ways to help others and many friends and relatives were the recipients’ of her notes of encouragement, birthday cards and gifts, beautiful post cards with special notes from her world travels, her many emails and phone calls. All of her correspondence concluded wtih her prayers for the recipient.

One friend noted in speaking of Claire, “She was a lover of knowledge, adventure and classiest lady around.”

A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.