Brownsville, Texas: Virginia Lee Bryant Cowen entered into eternal rest and the embrace of Our Lord Savior Jesus Christ on November 18, 2010 at Golden Palms Health Care Center, in Harlingen. She was 91. A resident of Brownsville from 1944 forward, Virginia was the definition of a matriarch: a wife, a mother--of eleven children--a teacher with a career spanning 31 years, a reader, a deep thinker, a spiritual seeker, a teller of tales, and a good-humored and caring friend. For Virginia, courage was a matter of trial and perseverance in the face of error. She was open to new experiences but never ran from a challenge. And life dealt her more than her share of challenges. At age 42, she became a widow, when her husband, Louis Raphael Cowen (a local attorney) passed away after a long struggle with cancer. Three days before Raphael passed away; the family's home was destroyed in a fire. So in addition to grief, in addition to being responsible for eleven children between the ages of two and eighteen, she was also homeless and poor. Most people would never recover from such loss and chaos. But Virginia prevailed by staying the course and forging change for the better. To feed and clothe her children and keep up with the mortgage payments, she worked two, sometimes three jobs, teaching eighth-grade English at Central Junior High School in the day and then adult education at night. She loved her children, listened to them, and stood behind them, but she also taught them that they must always nurture their own growth. That is why four years after her husband's death, she began taking graduate classes on Saturdays at Pan American University and Texas A&I University. That is also why, in 1970, at age 50 and with four of her children still at home, she moved to College Station to work on a master's degree and then PhD in English at Texas A&M University. The family lived in married student housing, on the salary she earned teaching part-time at A&M. These were bold steps for a woman who had never owned a car or known how to drive until she was 48. Six years later, when she had completed all but her dissertation for the PhD, she was offered a job teaching English at Texas Southmost College. She was 57, and she retired when she was 68, eleven years later. After retirement, two knee replacements, plus a hip and shoulder replacement, prompted her to start Brownsville's first arthritis support group. A desire to grow old gracefully led her to study Transcendental Meditation at 75, a daily practice she maintained until her death. Ironically, Prosperity was the name of the tiny Missouri town where Virginia was born on May 13, 1919—and Prosperity was destroyed in a fire when she was a baby. "I was born in Prosperity and have been poor ever since," Virginia used to joke. She was the daughter of general store owners Clarence LeRoy and Mabel Ruth Harris Bryant. She had two brothers and two sisters, all but one still living: Elizabeth Bryant Craw; Lucille Bryant Reagan; Theodore (Ted) Bryant, and Charles Bryant (now deceased). After the fire, her family relocated their store and home to Sheldon, another small Missouri town (with under 500 people). It was here that she grew up, became the valedictorian of her high school class, and won a scholarship to Southwest Missouri State Teachers College (now Southwest Missouri State University). In the semester Virginia was due to graduate, she switched both religions and careers—from Methodist to Baptist, from college student training to be a teacher to future missionary—and boarded a Fort Worth-bound bus with only $10 to her name. She studied at Baptist Bible College in the First Baptist Church in downtown Forth Worth, but upon graduation was told that there were no slots for women in the missions. So she sought other work, which is how she ended up in Brownsville—because the U.S. Weather Bureau offered her a job monitoring weather at the Brownsville airport. If not for the war and the shortage of male workers, she would never have been hired to send off weather balloons and perform other tasks in a job previously closed to women. She would never have come to Brownsville, never have met her husband, never have converted first to the Episcopal Church and then to the Catholic (or become the life-long and devout Catholic she was). She arrived alone, knowing no one, on an overnight train, and once again, with no more money than the few dollars she had in her pocketbook. But to Virginia, Brownsville was an adventure, a land of foreign foods and foreign people, of little pink bananas, green egg-shaped fruits called avocados, and Spanish spoken so fast she had no idea what was being said. She embraced her journey—made Brownsville her home, married a man from an old Brownsville family, and turned the foreign into the familiar, and even, into family. "I will do the best I can with what I have today"—that is the mantra she told herself and taught her children. She inspired and instilled in her children a dedication to serve their communities and help those in need. They and their spouses include Virginia Helen Cowen, Ralph Cowen (married to Susan Hays), John Cowen (married to Wilma Carnesi), Paul Cowen (married to Tamara Parrish), Philip Cowen (married to Frances Cooper), Thomas Cowen, Teresa Cowen Wildi (married to Martin Wildi), Margaret Cowen Wise (married to Johnny Wise), Elizabeth "Lizzy" Cowen, David E. Cowen (married to Susan Musch), and Catherine "Katie" Cowen Olson (married to Danel Olson). Virginia's grandchildren number twenty-three, her great grandchildren sixteen. She is a legend and a standard bearer to them all. They love her and they miss her. Visitations will be held on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. with a Holy Rosary recited at 7:00 P.M that evening at Sacred Heart Catholic Church located at 602 E. Elizabeth St. in Brownsville. Mass of Resurrection will be held on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 10:00 A.M. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Brownsville with Father Richard Houlahan OMI officiating. Committal Service will follow to Buena Vista Burial Park in Brownsville. Serving as pallbearers are her grandsons, Philip A. Cowen, Michael R. Cowen, Christopher P. Cowen, David L. Cowen, Christopher Harden, Ryan Harden, Andrew Cowen, John F. Cowen Jr., Jonathan P. Cowen, Timothy Cowen, Benjamin Cowen, Bryan Cowen and Robert Cowen. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made in memory of Virginia B. Cowen to the Oblate Missions, 323 Oblates Drive, San Antonio, TX 78216, Loaves & Fishes, 514 South East St., Harlingen, TX 78550 or Mother of Perpetual Help Nursing Home, 519 E. Madison St., Brownsville, TX 78520 Words of comfort can be sent to the family of Virginia B. Cowen at www.thomaegarza.com Funeral arrangements entrusted to the care of Thomae-Garza Funeral Directors, 395 S Sam Houston, San Benito, TX (956) 399-1331.