Bowar said her family was "thrilled" that she had been named grand marshal for this year's Town and Country Days parade.
"I was quite surprised, but very honored. Paynesville's been very good to me and my family," she said. Bowar's whole family -- eight kids and 18 grandchildren -- will be there for the parade.
Bowar and her husband are originally from Orient, S.D. Bowar, who worked at Paynesville Hospital until she retired in early January, got her nursing degree from what is now Presentation College in Aberdeen, S.D. Then, it was a school of nursing. The nursing students took some of their beginning classes, like anatomy and microbiology, at Northern State University.
"I was really going to be a teacher," Bowar said. She went to nursing school one week after she graduated from high school, and she hasn't looked back.
"(I'm) not sorry that I went. I like nursing ¡ like helping people," Bowar said. "It just seemed to be my niche. I'm -- comfortable in nursing."
During her first year at the Paynesville Hospital, the nursing home was added. During her 31 years there, Bowar saw changes in everything from the hospital building to the medical technology inside. When she was trained as a nurse, she learned to do x-rays and lab work. Now, those are all separate jobs.
Bowar worked in surgery throughout her years as a nurse. She was the director of nurses at Paynesville Hospital. She was in charge of all the nurses and their scheduling and training. The nursing staff was usually short-handed, so Bowar worked on the floor, too. She also did some office work and before she retired, she was in material management, which coordinates buying for the hospital.
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