Jeanette Rae Billman Bower, 75
Jeanette Rae Billman Bower was born December 25th, 1946 to Frances Brown Billman and Ronald Billman of State Center, IA. Jeanette lost her battle with Parkinson’s and went to be with the Lord on Friday, December 2nd, 2022, at 2:50 in the afternoon. She lived to be 75 years young, one month shy of her 76th birthday.
Services were held in El Mirage Arizona.
A Celebration of Life for Jeanette will be held March 25th, 11:30AM at the United Methodist Church of State Center.
Jeanette graduated from West Marshall High School and was active in cheerleading and 4H. Her mission to help others lead her to a career as a Registered Nurse, attending school at Lutheran Hospital with a certification in 1968. She worked at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City and the hospital in Iowa Falls. Jeanette married Thomas Bower of Ankeny on August 3, 1969, in State Center, IA. They lived in Iowa City, Marshalltown, Ubon Thailand, Denver, Sumter SC, and Iowa Falls, finally settling in Ankeny to build their dream house and later Surprise, Arizona. After many years in the workforce, she was blessed with the opportunity to stay home with her children, becoming the world’s best stay-at-home mom. There was never a classroom party or a field trip she was too busy to chaperone. Her extraordinary crafting abilities resulted in many successful school projects including an erupting volcano made entirely of chocolate cake, hand sewn Renaissance period doll clothes, and several very impressive Halloween costumes.
In her free time, Jeanette enjoyed volunteering through the New Horizons Adult Day Care Center. She was a Campfire Girls troop leader and managed a butterfly garden for the Army Corp of Engineers at Saylorville Lake. In the Bower tradition, she was an avid golfer, participating in many ladies and couples’ leagues and events over the years. Jeanette loved spending as much time with her grandchildren as she could, sometimes traveling great distances and always just a call away to babysit. She made friends wherever she went, whether it was a stranger sitting by her on an airplane or a cashier at the grocery store. Jeanette was well-known for sharing experiences and storytelling about her friends and family. She was always generous and selfless, often putting her own needs behind everyone else’s. Jeanette loved a good adventure, whether that was a road trip to the Mall of America or an off the beaten path tourist attraction, rollerblading, riding bikes, or horseback riding. She loved the Iowa State Fair and made annual trips to Adventureland, never riding a single ride, but purely for the enjoyment of her family.
Jeanette’s faith and family were her life. She attended church at the Ankeny First United Methodist Church for many years and the United Methodist Church of State Center. She loved coming back to State Center and Marshalltown for weekly visits with her brothers and sisters and whoever she could find at home. She attended the State Center Rose Festival Events annually for as long as she was able. Jeanette will be remembered for her kindness, generosity, love of life and family.
She is survived by her husband Tom; children Doug Bower, Mike (Lisa) Bower and Kristen (Shaun) Buck; grandchildren Gage, Shelby, Hayden and Addison; her 9 siblings: David (Linda) Billman, Diane Radloff, Ron (Sue) Billman, Barb Patterson, Mark (Lisa McSparron) Billman, Denise (John) Levings, Renee (Carl) Norman, and Christine Blue; Nieces: Mandy (Ellis) Herd, Lisa (Marc) Nelson, Angie (Mike) Swanson, Melissa (Rex) Gaskill, Samantha (John) Ames, Leslie (Ash) Eurton, Melissa (Justin) Curtis, Ali Levings Keller, Malory Bradley, Kelcey Blue, and Kendra (Konner) Kacmaryski; Nephews: Brian (Kay) Billman, Taylor McSparron (Haley), Chris McSparron, Dylan Bradley, and Nathan Bradley (Victoria Borha), and many other relatives and friends. She is proceeded in death by her mother Frances and her father Ron, her stepmother Delores Dunn Billman and nephew Adam Levings.
