Ione Bernice Fowler

Ione Bernice Brewer “Boots” Fowler, 102, passed away peacefully on April 8, 2019 in Abilene at Mesa Springs Healthcare Center.  A graveside service will be held at Acton Cemetery on Sunday, June 9th, at 2:00 p.m.  Services are under the direction of The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road, Abilene.

Ione was born in Dallas, TX to Charles Willis Brewer and “Dena” Christine (Kurth) Brewer June 12, 1916.  She graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas, TX in 1934.  Following graduation, she became a professional dancer and dance teacher, and later worked for Sanger Brother’s Department Store in Dallas.

She married Harry Clifford “Kip” Fowler on February 2, 1940 in Dallas.  They lived in Dallas, Fort Worth, Tyler, Midland, Houston, Abilene and Granbury until his death in 1991 from Alzheimers.

Ione enjoyed painting, traveling, reading, and spending her summers at her cabin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico.  She was an active member of Abilene Woman’s Club, Girl Scouts, Newcomer’s Club, Hood County Republican Committee, St. Paul United Methodist Church (Abilene), Acton United Methodist Church (Acton) and Rociada Baptist Church near Mora, New Mexico.  She served as a Stephens Minister and organized the first Alzheimer’s support group in Granbury.

Ion was preceded in death by her husband, Harry Clifford Fowler (1991), her sisters Ruth Brewer, Beatrice Robb, and Esther “Tag” Hopper, and her parents.  She is survived by her four children, Ron Fowler and wife Bonnie (Arlington, VA), Suzanne Wiley and husband Robert (Monticello, AR), Cliff Fowler and wife Sandra (Abilene, TX), and Sandra Fowler-Hill and husband Larry (Portland, OR), six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family request donations be made in her memory to North Central Alzheimer’s Association at https://www.alz.org/northcentraltexas 2630 West Fwy, Suite 100, Fort Worth, TX 76102 or Hospice of the Big Country at https://westtexasrehab.org/donations/memorial-donation 4601 Hartford, Abilene, TX 79605.  The family gratefully thanks the staff and volunteers of Mesa Springs Healthcare Center and Big Country Hospice for their loving care of our mother.