More links for the Thea News subsection

Select One Thea 'Soul Corner' Cartoon Bowman house safe haven Thea "Brilliantly Clear Choice' Thea Bowman in the News Thea remembered Artist Creates Print Shooting Star Book Reprint Thea's Influence Continues with New Book Sister Thea Bowman Thea Icon Unveiled

Icon unveiled to commemorate Franciscan Sister, who died in 1990

Story originally printed in the 3/31/04 La Crosse Tribune or online at http://www.lacrossetribune.com

By GAYDA HOLLNAGEL of the La Crosse Tribune

Fourteen years after the death of Sister Thea Bowman, her "little light" continues to shine, said friends, colleagues and admirers who gathered Tuesday to recall Bowman's love for her Lord, his world and all his people.

The fourth annual Flavor of Soul celebration commemorating the March 30, 1990, anniversary of Bowman's death from cancer at age 52, focused on art and music.

Sister Carlene Unser unveils the new Thea Bowman icon at the Flavor of Soul event at FSPA convent. Photo courtesy of La Crosse Tribune - Dick Riniker photo.

Sister Carlene Unser, FSPA, unveiled her new "Thea" icon, "This Little Light of Mine," which shows the sister dressed in African garb with a halo surrounding her turbaned head. The words from Bowman's favorite spiritual, and what many would say was her motto in life, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," encircle the halo.

"Thea loved art, art of all kinds, good music, good liturgy, good theology," said Sister Charlene Smith, FSPA, coordinator of the Thea Bowman Legacy, an organization that tracks the honors, activities and events named for Bowman, who at the time of her death was an internationally known preacher, teacher and retreat leader.

Bowman, who always wore African dress and incorporated African American spirituals into her presentations, spoke before the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1989, and before she finished had the bishops on their feet, holding hands and singing, "We shall overcome." She also was interviewed by Mike Wallace for a "60 Minutes" segment in May 1987.

Unser's presentation was accompanied on the harp by Sister Malinda Gerke, FSPA.

Gerke was in an FSPA formation program with Bowman, who was born in Canton, Miss., and joined the FSPA after getting to know several of the sisters who were her elementary school teachers at Holy Child Jesus Catholic School in Canton.

Doris Jones O'Leary, a classmate of Bowman's at Holy Child Jesus, also attended the celebration. After the program, O'Leary said the two women stayed close throughout Bowman's life. O'Leary, now a retired nurse who runs a drop-in center for kids in Compton, Calif., said she returned to Canton at Bowman's request to help care for Bowman's parents in the last year of their lives. O'Leary said she also was with Bowman the day she learned about her cancer.

O'Leary said Bowman as a child was much like Bowman as an adult.

"She was always happy, joyful and generous. She used to give her lunch away," said O'Leary, who added that as the 14th child of a family with 16 children she often benefitted from Bowman's lunchtime generosity.

When Bowman decided to go to the convent in La Crosse, O'Leary said she celebrated the occasion on two counts. "I not only was glad she was going to the convent," O'Leary said, "but I got her clothes."

Gayda Hollnagel can be reached at (608) 791-8224 or at ghollnagel@lacrossetribune.com.

All stories copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 La Crosse Tribune and other attributed sources.

Click here to return to the Thea News page.