Julie Duvic Bowes

Julie Duvic Bowes, age 90, passed away on December 8, 2011 on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a date very special in her life and that of her late husband Judge Frederick Stephen Bowes. She is survived by her children, Jeanne Suzanne Praytor, Julie Anne Gautreaux, Stephen Frederick Bowes, Roy Morrow Bowes, and Patrick James Bowes, 16 grandchildren, and 22 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her mother, father and brother, Odette Roy Duvic, Mr. Frank Roger Duvic, Jr. and Frank Roger Duvic, III, who represented turn-of-the-century Gretna as the owners of the town’s Duvic’s Hardware on Huey P. Long Avenue. Julie Bowes began her career of 30 years as the Food Editor of the Times-Picayune in 1949 under the pen name of Sue Baker. To her family’s delight, she tested her recipes on them that she used in her twice-weekly column, on Thursdays and in living color on Sundays in the Dixie Roto Magazine. Even as recently as this past year, she has been contacted by the present Food Editors for people seeking some long lost recipes of hers. Her career was a natural for her as she graduated from LSU in Home Economics in 1942 and found her lifelong joy in cooking. Mrs. Bowes was very active all of her life in her community, painting beautiful watercolors and creating prizewinning flower exhibits as President of the Twilight Gardeners. She was active in St. Joseph Church in Gretna, the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Lions Club and Knights of Columbus, tutoring children, and was a Volunteer of America mentor at an elementary school and a “Reading Lady” at the Covington Head Start program when she and her husband moved to the Christwood Retirement Community 15 years ago. There she served as chairwoman of the Dining Committee and the Bridge Club, used her extensive computer skills for Christwood, and was a Eucharistic Minister of Communion to the sick. She was an active member of and a daily communicant at her church, St. Anselm of Madisonville. She was a master seamstress, creating and making her own wedding dress for her marriage to Lt. Fred Bowes during World War II after being chosen “Little Colonel” for the LSU ROTC. She was an accomplished golfer, but most of all a beloved “Mimi” to her grandchildren and great grandchildren, who loved her dearly. Relatives and Friends of the Family are invited to the visitation on Monday, at MOTHE FUNERAL HOME, 2100 Westbank Expressway, Harvey, LA from 11 AM until 1 PM. Interment will follow in Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Gretna, LA. Funeral Mass will be held at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 6201 Stratford Pl, New Orleans, LA 70131, Monday December 12, 2011 at 2 PM. For further funeral information or directions, please call Mothe Funeral Home at 504.366.4343. Family and friends may view and sign the online guestbook at www.mothefunerals.com.