Geneva Naomi Gowdy

Geneva N. Gowdy, 78, of Amarillo died Wednesday September. 19, 2007 at Amarillo... Funeral services will be at 2:00 PM Saturday September 22, 2007 at Rector Funeral Home Coulter Chapel with Reverend Mark Urquhart, Hospice Care of the Southwest officiating. Interment will be in Memory Gardens Cemetery. Arrangements are by Rector Funeral Home 8310 S. Coulter St. Amarillo, Texas. Mrs. Gowdy was born June 20, 1929 in Bristow, Oklahoma to Thomas and Mabel Langley. In 1945, she married Lavan Owen Gowdy, and she lived in San Antonio while Mr. Gowdy was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps following World War II. They also lived in North Hollywood, Calif., Shafter, Calif. And Oklahoma City before moving to Amarillo in 1953. Mrs. Gowdy spent many years taking care of the office for Gowdy TV, the family owned business, but her first priority was always caring for her children and grandchildren. She was an active volunteer in the church and in her children's schools, and she spent many years researching genealogy and documenting her family's history including numerous, priceless stories about her childhood and her ancestors' lives. She was an enjoyable storyteller, and she wrote poetry and was published in various poetry anthologies. Upon retiring to Okalahoma with her husband in 1998, they settled onto the property where her childhood schoolhouse had been located. She organized an all-school reunion for the former students of the school and the surrounding areas, and the event was so well attended, it became an annual occasion that she oversaw until she became ill and moved back to Amarillo with her husband in 2006. She is most remembered by her family for her beautiful singing that filled the air whether she was performing with the choir, washing the dishes, typing a letter, driving to the store, applying her makeup, watering the garden, or rocking a baby to sleep. Her songs were always welcomed by those who heard them and will always be remembered by those who cherished them. She was proud to call herself a Christian and strongly believed in the power of prayer. She cherished every member of her family and always felt blessed to have so many children and grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents.Survivors include her loving husband of 62 years; three sons, Ronald Gowdy, Kenneth Gowdy and wife Donna, Larry Gowdy and wife Darlene; two daughters, Tana Stephens and husband Randall and Kathryn Mitchell and husband David; her grandchildren, Bray Gowdy, Kendra Eberle, Kevin Gowdy, Cecilia Wygant, Sonya Lasserre, Tonya Wright, Natasha Warren, Dustin Mitchell and Kallie Mitchell; 13 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Julane Biederstedt, and Lorene Earp; a brother, David Langley; and numerous extended family members whom she loved. At the conclusion of the services the family would like to invite all in attendance to a gathering at 5202 West 37th.