Meriel Katherine Elmore "Duchess" Bowden

MARICOPA - Meriel Katherine Elmore "Duchess" Bowden died on July 15, 2020.

Mrs. Bowden was born to David and Dorothy Elmore in Berkeley, California. She received her nickname at birth from her father, who saw her face and said, "There is the Duchess." She attended Berkeley High School and enjoyed arts and crafts and tinkering with electronics. She was a hairstylist and model for Original Brothers Afro Products in Oakland, California, and also a Playboy bunny in San Francisco. She had one of the "baddest naturals" (Afro) in the 1960s and '70s.

According to her husband, "Punkin," she was a "dynamite" cook. She also enjoyed fashion, interior decorating and customizing furniture. One of her favorite pastimes was cruising with her husband in her 1949 Cadillac. In 1981, she married Al Bowden in Reno, Nevada, and the very next day they joined Elmhurst Seventh-day Adventist Church in Oakland and were baptized. She also worked for the Northern California Conference of SDA churches as a periodical clerk for a number of years. From there, ministry called the family to Atlanta, where they spent three years before ministry called them again to Kansas City, Missouri, for 13 years. She was the first lady for Shiloh SDA Church in Leavenworth, Kansas, where she was loved by all. Retirement brought the family to Maricopa, where she again served as first lady and one of the founders of Abundant Life SDA Church.

Besides her husband, Pastor Al Bowden, survivors include five adult children, Paris Butler, Shannon T. Bowden, Angel McLaren, Rhonda Bowden and Shawn Bowden; two brothers, David Elmore and Thomas Bowden; five sisters, Mary Ann Briscoe, Carolyn Rebecca Briscoe, Beverly Briscoe, Muriel Moore and June Lacey; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a grandson, Ryan Bowden.

J. Warren Funeral Services in charge of arrangements.