Janice Bower

Janice Kay Bower, 68, of Grundy Center, died from natural causes on Saturday May 23, 2009, at the St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN. Funeral Services will be Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 10:30 am at the First Baptist Church in Grundy Center. Visitation will be on Wednesday, May 26, 2009 at the Engelkes - Abels Funeral Home in Grundy Center from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Burial will follow in the Lincoln Township Cemetery in Tama County. Memorials for Janice may be directed to First Baptist Church of Grundy Center in Janice's name. Janice was born April 21, 1941 in Muscatine, Iowa the daughter of John E. and Alene (DeLap) Smith. She grew up in the Muscatine area and attended schools there. On January 31, 1959, Janice was united in marriage to Gerald Bower in Muscatine. Two children were born to this union, Pam and Mark. In the fall of 1961 Janice realized her personal need and accepted Jesus as her Savior. Janice and Gerald worked side by side most of their life except for a short period of time in Ames. In 1968 the couple purchased the newspaper in Loup City, NE. They moved to Clarinda, Iowa in 1972 were they owned the True Value Hardware Store. They moved to Ames in 1975 and then purchased the Quick Printing Co. in Grundy Center in 1979 where Janice worked with her husband until health problems made it unable for her to work. Janice was a member of the First Baptist Church in Grundy Center. She is survived by her husband, Gerald of Grundy Center; one daughter, Pam (Leonard) Umscheid of Omaha, NE; son, Mark (Linda) Bower of Grundy Center; 7 grand children, Patty(Steve) Stubblefield of Union, IA, James Umscheid of Bellevue, NE, John(Eddie) Umscheid of Omaha, Rosanna Bower of Ankeny, Rebecca Bower of Ankeny, Roberta Bower of Ankeny , Jonathan Bower of Grundy Center; 4 great grandchildren, Deonce, Cheyenne, Alexandria, Skyler, two brothers, John (Jean) Smith of Rock Island, IL; Donald (Donna) Smith of Shannon, IL. Preceding her in death were her parents, and one brother DeWayne Smith.