Fern Bowling was born March 25, 1929 in Iredell, Texas. She passed away December 26, 2023 at her home in Dallas, Texas.

Fern was raised in Iredell, Texas, but in 1943, Fern's mother took a job at the Buckner Orphan's Home in Dallas. Subsequently, she and her five siblings attended and graduated from Buckner.

Following graduation, she attended Howard Payne College. Family finances were tight following World War II, so Fern left Howard Payne to commence full time work.

In 1950, she married Glenn Bowling from Dallas. Fern and Glenn had three sons – Glenn, Lloyd, and Mark.

In 1963, she began working for the City of Dallas in Administration Services and Health Education. She worked as a payroll clerk and building manager, and later with immunization clinics and immunization records.

In 1986, she ran and was elected to the Board of Directors of the City of Dallas Employees Credit Union. Fern was passionate about maximizing economic benefit for Credit Union members. She and fellow board members sometimes lobbied local congressional representatives to back legislation which would open the gates for fair and equitable treatment. It gave her great joy, working to create equal access to financial instruments and services for her fellow co-workers.

After working for the City for 30 years, she retired in December, 1993. Once retired, Fern continued serving on the Credit Union Board of Directors for several years. She also delighted in joining fellow retirees at Eastridge Baptist Church for monthly Merry Hearts meetings.

Fern had a servants heart and helped many people over the years. However, she always considered her most important job to be helping care for her beloved granddaughter, Janie. She knew she would need to maintain good heart health and fitness to help with Janie, so commenced a regular plan of 2-3 times weekly gym workouts, accompanied by regular walking. She maintained this regimen

across many years, up until age 90 and just before the pandemic.

She loved and was very active in her church. She attended Sunny Glen Baptist and Eastridge Baptist for more than fifty years. She spent most of those years teaching two and three-year olds, while also singing in the choir.

Her favorite Bible verse was Phillipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." God held up His end – He gave her the strength. In return, Fern Bowling was not a bystander or spectator in this life, she was an active participant. When asked what she wanted her epitaph to be, her response was "She done good!" Without a doubt, Fern did good‼

Fern is preceded in death by her father, John Horsley, her mother, Cora Mae Horsley, her sister, Cecillyn McDonald, her brothers, Carlos Horsley, Vernon Horsley, and Leldon Horsley. She is survived by her brother, Vance Horsley, and three sons: Glenn Bowling (wife, Janet and daughter, Janie), Lloyd Bowling (wife Jean Soh and step children Alexa Lim and Andre Lim), and Mark Bowling (wife, Christina and step children Victoria Griffin, Joseph Griffin, and Destiny DeLaCruz).

Visitation and a memorial service will be at Eastridge Baptist Church on Friday, December 29, 2023.

Visitation will be from 11:30 – 1:00 p.m. with the memorial service following at 1:00 p.m.

Eastridge Baptist Church is located at 732 E. Ovilla Road, Red Oak, Texas 75154.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Eastridge Baptist Church.