Margaret Eleanor BOWER

1927-2002 Margaret Eleanor Bower, a Scientist Emeritus with the Geological Survey of Canada and the National Research Council, passed away at the Kemptville District Hospital, Sunday, September 8, 2002 at the age of 75. Fondly remembered by many cousins and their families in the West, Catherine and Mel Prowse of Creston, B.C., Ted and Dorothy of Calgary, Rick and Joanne of Innisfail, Jack's children Cindy, John and Lindsey in Red Deer, Allan and Mitch of Delburne and Dorothy and Ruth, both cousins and neighbours in Red Deer. In Ottawa she was close to a circle of friends at work at Flight Research; Ottawa neighbours Rob and Marg Hopper; Manotick neighbours Paula Turner and Jeff Brownlee and their daughter Sydney Margaret and special friends Doug and Mary Hardwick of Manotick and Norm and Lorraine McPhee of Perth. She had spent her entire adult life in the public service. Ms. Bower, born July 24, 1927, was the daughter of the late Hugh and Bessie (Haliburton) Bower, a pioneer family in Red Deer, Alberta. She graduated with a BSc. in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Alberta after attending Red Deer Public Schools. Thereafter, her life was spent in Ottawa and finally near Manotick at her beloved country home. Margaret's loves were her work, her garden, her advanced energy-efficient home, music, the Arctic and her cats. Professionally, Margaret was credited with being a woman ahead of her time, whose early innovative work helped harness the powers of small computers and aircraft to survey far reaches of Canada and beyond. She is said to have helped fill in previously blank parts of the map of Canada, particularly in the Arctic and off the East and West coast. For ten years after her retirement she returned to her airport office almost daily to consolidate her work. By then she was the sole person left who could comprehend old records in modified early computer languages. Personally, Margaret was the sort of person who would deny herself to be of quiet assistance to others. Her wish, when the end came, was to be quietly laid away. Gatherings to celebrate Margaret's life will be held in Alberta and in Ottawa where friends are invited to drop in at a gathering to be held at the home of Mary and Doug Hardwick, 1118 Tighe Street in Manotick, Wednesday, September 18 from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Interment in the family plot in Red Deer. Donations to Kemptville District Hospital, 2675 Concession Road, Bag 2007, Kemptville, Ontario, would be appreciated and benefit many. The Ottawa Citizen, 12-09-2002