Florence Bowman loved a good game of Scrabble, and often played against herself

Florence Dorothy Bowman: Matriarch. Scrabble player. Foodie. Gardener. Born Nov. 30, 1920, in Grey County, Ont., died March 2, 2020, in London, Ont.; of coronary artery disease; aged 99.

Florence Bowman was a master scrabble player. She was so good at it that her husband Ab refused to play with her. She would sometimes play against herself – recording scores for “Mom” and “Flo” separately. Flo was normally a mild mannered mother and grandmother, but her competitive side truly came out at the Scrabble board.

Flo Greenwood was born on a farm, about a two-hour drive northwest of Toronto, before her family had to move to the nearby town of Durham. Flo was the sixth eldest in a family of 14 children. There was never much money as her father worked as a labourer after the family left the farm. The only toy Flo remembered having as a youngster was a doll given to her by her Sunday School teacher.

Flo was 16 when her family moved again to Toronto, while some of her brothers stayed behind to work in Durham. It was the middle of the Depression and Flo had to quit school to help support the family. One of her favourite jobs was at Eaton’s where she earned $12.50 per week.

Her family joined WoodGreen United Church in Toronto’s east end and Flo met Ab Bowman at its youth group. When Flo’s boyfriend died, Ab, who knew them both, went to console her. The rest as they say is history.

Flo and Ab married in 1942. In 1943 they purchased a farm in Perth County but wouldn’t move in until after the war. Ab earned his pilot license and worked as a flying instructor during the war. The couple started their family as they moved between several small Ontario towns near air bases.

Flo and Ab’s farm was quite rundown by the time they moved in, but they worked hard to improve it. Feeding their eight children kept Flo busy: there was a large vegetable garden to tend and chickens to raise. Flo cooked to feed her crowd but baking was her love. She continued to bake cookies, muffins and cakes well into her 90s. Her recipe for spice cake with penuche icing has been passed down and enjoyed by 24 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren.

Flo learned how to drive in her 30s – she needed a way to get off the farm to volunteer at her church, the local Women’s Institute, Farm Forum and her children’s 4H clubs. She never quite figured out the clutch on the family car, however, much to her children’s amusement.

To give her some income of her own, Flo also wrote community columns for two weekly newspapers. In later years, she grew flowers (she loved roses and gerbera daises) and entered arrangements in local competitions – winning quite a few of them, too.

As the physical work of the farm became too much, Ab and Flo sold it and moved to Stratford in 1990, where they joined the horticultural society.

When Ab died in 2010, she continued to enjoy visits from her family – especially for a game of Scrabble.

Flo always maintained a good sense of humour and at a family dinner shortly before she died, she asked wryly: “If only the good die young, what does that say about me?”

But Flo, who was barely five-feet tall, was reminded by her children that good things come in small packages.

James Bowman is one of Flo’s sons.

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