Elizabeth Baker Bowers, 101, library secretary, book lover
Elizabeth Baker Bowers, 101, formerly of Ardmore, a book lover who spent 15 years as executive secretary to the curator of the Quaker collection at Haverford College Library, died Tuesday, Sept. 13, from advanced age at Dunwoody Village, Newtown Square.
Elizabeth Baker Bowers, 101, formerly of Ardmore, a book lover who spent 15 years as executive secretary to the curator of the Quaker collection at Haverford College Library, died Tuesday, Sept. 13, from advanced age at Dunwoody Village, Newtown Square.
"She lived an enjoyable, full, long life of 101 years," her family wrote in a tribute. "Books were her passion."
Born in West Philadelphia to George Emerson Crofoot and Edna Baker Hopkins, she graduated from Friends' Central School and, in 1937, the University of Pennsylvania. After college, she was employed in the editorial department at John C. Winston & Co., a publishing house in Philadelphia.
Later, she was drawn to the Quaker collection at the Haverford College Library, which "illuminates Quaker life, faith, and practice from the earliest days of the Society of Friends to the present," according to the library's website.
She had intended to work for a short time to earn extra money but stayed for 15 years. "It became a labor of love," said son Wilber Baker "Bill" Tritle.
In 1944, she married Wilber Keen Tritle. The couple lived in Ardmore for 40 years.
After Tritle's death in 1982, she married Thatcher Nye Bowers in 1984. Bowers, a lifelong friend and distant relative, died of a heart attack in 1988.
After her move to Ardmore, Mrs. Bowers became a member of the Woman's Club of Ardmore and volunteered at the Ardmore Library.
In 1987, she retired to Dunwoody Village, where she was active in the Dunwoody Library and helped write and edit the Inside Dunwoody newsletter.
She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Society, and the Historical Society of Wellfleet, Mass.
She read widely, enjoyed playing bridge, and researched her family genealogy.
In the 1970s, she and her husband entertained many foreign guests in conjunction with the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia, of which they were members. The council, now called Citizen Diplomacy International, recruits families to host foreign leaders so the latter can get a taste of American family life and cultural events in cities such as Philadelphia.
She traveled in the United States and to 30 countries. Her favorite place, though, was Meadowbank, the family second home in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, where the family gathered for 90 summers.
"She rarely missed a summer from age 2 to 92," her son said. "The house has been in the family since 1867."
Besides her son, she is survived by six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Also surviving are a stepson, Rowland Bowers; a stepdaughter, Marion Natale; and three stepgrandchildren.
"As she said some 20 years ago, she started out as an only child and ended with a large family spanning the United States, for which she was eternally grateful," her son said.
A memorial service was Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Contributions may be made to the Wellfleet Public Library, 55 W. Main St., Wellfleet, Mass. 02667.
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