- Date Of Birth: March 25, 1919
- Date Of Death: December 24, 2020
- State: Illinois
Mary was born on March 25, 1919, in New Britain, CT to Joseph and Mary (Babinskas) Chaponis. After living through the Great Depression with her parents, Mary graduated from high school and ventured into the business world. Among other endeavors, she directed a Lithuanian choral group. She became a sound engineer at WTIC radio in Hartford, CT, providing sound effects for several radio shows that her future husband wrote, announced, and produced. She married George W. Bowe on March 15, 1947 in Kingston, New York. Once their daughters were in school, she embarked on a new profession-banking-becoming a vice president at Connecticut National Bank. After retiring from banking and after her husband passed away, she moved to Ottawa, and soon began volunteering at Community Hospital of Ottawa, devoting more than 5000 volunteer hours in the gift shop and as treasurer of CHO benefits including the Holiday House Walk and Bazaar. She was also a member of St. Columba Church. Mary was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother as well as a UCONN Women’s Basketball Team super fan!
She is survived by two daughters, Debby (Michael) Reagan, of Ottawa, IL and Sheila Sitomer, of Boston, MA; four grandchildren, Terry (Jaime) Reagan, of Kennewick, WA, Dan (Emilie) Reagan, of Durham, NH, Margaret (Jacob) Jeffries, of Carmel, IN, and Hayden Sitomer, of Los Angeles, CA; and eight greatgrandchildren, Lilly, William, Connor, Margaret Ryan, Catherine, and Sophie Reagan, and Finnegan and Maxwell Jeffries.
