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A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: Proverbs 17:22.

Sara Dickert Bowden had a merry heart and, for those who knew and loved her, she was good medicine.

Miss Sarah, as she was affectionately known, touched many lives and in so many ways; therefore; her death on January 4, 2022, brought a cloak of sadness over generations of those who knew her.

Mrs. Bowden grew up on North Main Street in Brundidge and she died in the same house where she was born in 1928. She loved Brundidge and she loved the people, all the people.

She was a teacher, a motivator and friend.

Mrs.  Bowden was a proud graduate of “her school in Brundidge” and Huntingdon College. She was a teacher who touched countless lives while she was in the classroom and on into their lives in adulthood.

She was an avid reader and a dedicated supporter and board member of the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library in Brundidge. She admired Tupper Lightfoot and worked tirelessly in the efforts to rename the city library, which was located in his family home, in his memory.

Mrs. Bowden was an artist who hand-painted Easter eggs and Christmas ornaments for her children and others. She was a collector of many things including the nutcrackers that filled her home.

She was the oldest and longest-living member of Brundidge United Methodist Church. She taught Sunday school and was a favorite leader at children’s church and a member of the United Methodist Women.

Mrs. Bowden was involved in the community in many ways but, she was also widely known and appreciated for the role she played in the community folk life play, “Come Home, It’s Suppertime.”

She played the role of Ethel Smart who was the relief lady during the Great Depression. The two had been friends so Mrs. Bowden was Miss Ethel.

Linda Steed played opposite “Miss Ethel” in the beauty shop scenes and also was the driver for Miss Ethel to the theater.

“Mrs. Bowden and I were friends, good friends, and she was the most amazing person,” Steed said. “She could make anybody laugh. Even if I was feeling down, she would make me laugh. I think she loved everybody and everybody loved her because she made them feel good.

“Mrs. Bowden, like all of us, didn’t always have good days but she didn’t let it show.”

Steed said her life is better for having known Mrs. Bowden in real life and as Miss Ethel in the play.

“There are special people in all our lives and Mrs. Bowden was a special person in so many lives,” Steed said. “She enjoyed being on stage and entertaining people. At the end of each performance, people would come up and tell her how much they enjoyed her and how she had made them laugh. Mrs. Bowden would smile and I could see how happy that made her knowing she had made a difference in their lives, if just for that one night

Steed said, as she has grown older, she is accepting of the knowledge that no one will live forever.

“But it’s not easy knowing that you will not see the ones you love again,” she said. “I will always remember Mrs. Bowden’s smile and the laughter she brought into my life and into the lives of so many others. I love her and it breaks my heart that she is gone. And, I’m not alone in that.”