Thelma Louise Bowen

Thelma Louise Bowen passed away Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Skilled Care Nursing Home in Mexia, at age 94.

Visitation will be held at Groesbeck Funeral Home, prior to the funeral service, on Saturday, June 4, 2022, beginning at 12:00 p.m.

Funeral services will begin Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Rev. Ricky Waller of the First Baptist Church of Kosse officiating.   Burial will follow in Cobb Cemetery.

Thelma worked twenty plus years at Anchor Glass in Houston as an inspector in the lab.   She enjoyed fishing and she loved spending time with her family. 

Thelma considered herself to be an old pro at fighting cancer, since 1992 when first diagnosed with breast cancer, and undergoing a mastectomy and eight months of chemotherapy treatments.  Then in 2004, she learned she had colon cancer, after not feeling well since a fall and broken hip during Tropical Storm Allison.   The cancer had progressed far enough to require emergency surgery and removal of 1/3 of the colon.   She had another course of chemotherapy, with a doctor whom she trusted fully since she had been instrumental in Thelma’s survival of the prior breast cancer.  

Thelma was full of encouragement to all who knew her story of surviving two cancers in 20 years and also having lost two younger siblings to different cancers.  She knew her experiences had taught her about life and the struggle to survive, and she shared her wisdom as a person who never stops. 

She wanted others to know that one must believe in their self and their doctors, must learn to face the battles head on, and always with God’s help.  She said “Being motivated to keep going through the darkest times is essential when fighting cancer.   It’s the only way to honor the life you’ve been given.”

Thelma was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband, Rex Argabrite, Jr.; her second husband, David Bowen; and two of her sisters, Dorothy Daniels and Pat Carroll.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Charles Vaughn and Donna Argabrite of Kosse; daughter and son-in-law, June and Michael Scherling of Houston; 3 grandchildren:  Sarah (Scherling) and husband Stephen Keller, Lydia (Scherling) and husband Nick Arrighi, and Heather Dianne Scherling -all of the Houston area;  8 great grandchildren, also of the Houston area: Kaylah Ann-Marie Torres, Gavin Vicente Torres-Scherling, Preston Adam Ramirez, Dominic Michael Arrighi, Brianna Alise Ramirez, Aleigha Kylie Quintero, Sophia Dianne Quintero, and Mason Edward Arrighi; also, one great-great grandson, Aiden Luis Torres.  She is also survived by a sister and brother-in-law, Mary Nell and Sterling Weatherford of Vidor, and her two brothers and sisters-in-law, Ernest and Carole Williford of Lumberton, and J.T. and Coretta Williford of Houston.