{"id":16216,"date":"2022-12-30T15:09:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T21:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=16216"},"modified":"2022-12-30T15:09:10","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T21:09:10","slug":"in-memoriam-geraldine-gerri-bowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2022\/12\/30\/in-memoriam-geraldine-gerri-bowers\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam: Geraldine “Gerri” Bowers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gerri Bowers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On Christmas eve, we lost a dear friend, volunteer, colleague, and supporter, Gerri Bowers. We are deeply saddened by this loss, which will be felt by us at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center and across our community. She was involved in activities in the Village of East Davenport and was instrumental in preserving the legacy of Bix Beiderbecke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her dedication to preserving the past was demonstrated through her work with the Bix Memorial Jazz Society, the Bix Beiderbecke Museum and Archives, and the Davenport Public Library. Gerri volunteered with the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections for several years until 2020 when she needed to stay home with her husband, Kent. Even if she couldn’t attend an event, her presence was felt through the support she gave. One memorable instance of this was when she was unable to attend a genealogy night potluck event, but she still made a dish for sharing! It was a tasty salad! Starting in 2018, Gerri supported the first Quad Cities Archives Crawl by representing the Bix Museum and giving a detailed and interesting presentation on the life and works of Bix Beiderbecke. She gave another fascinating program on Bix the following year at the reimagined Quad Cities Archives Fair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geraldine “Gerri” Bowers was born February 15, 1939, in Centerville, Appanoose County, Iowa, to Daniel Wesper Hurt and Lucille Foster. She was one of eight children. Daniel and Lucille married on January 12, 1920, in Centerville, Iowa. Daniel passed away on December 1, 1942. In 1954, when Gerri was fifteen, Lucille remarried Ralph McKinley Boyer. He died on September 8, 1956. <\/p>\n\n\n\n