Helen Isabel Frazee-Bower - 24

Mrs. Frazee-Bower, Author, Dies At 64 

Campbellsville, Ky., June 25.

Mrs. Helen Frazee-Bower, 64, died at her home in Campbellsville Saturday after a long illness. Mrs. Bower was an author and poet and her works had appeared in Harpers, Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, Ladies Home Journal, and other publications. She was widely known as a speaker and Bible teacher. She taught school many years in the Los Angeles public-school system.

The Louisville Courier-Journal  June 26, 1960

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Helen Frazee Bower, Noted Poet and Member of Pioneer Family Here, Dies

Funeral services for Mrs. Helen Frazee Bower, 64, a school teacher for 42 years and a noted poet, were held Wednesday afternoon at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Compton. She was the daughter of the late Mrs. And Mrs. Isaac Frazee, who built Frazee’s Castle in Moosa Canyon before the turn of the century.

Mrs. Bower died Saturday at Campbellville, Ky., where she and her husband, William M. Bower, had moved in the past few years. She was invalided after being struck by a car in Los Angeles.  The Bowers, both former Escondidans, lived in Los Angeles for many years before moving to Kentucky.

A native Californian, Mrs. Bower and her husband had collaborated on a number of hymns. She wrote the words and he the musical score.

Surviving, besides her husband, are two sons, Richard L. Bower of Kentucky and David Bower of Norwalk; three daughters, Mrs. Becky Mann of Kentucky, Mrs. Ruth Vasquez of West Covina and Mrs. Lois Rollins of Long Beach; 15 grandchildren; and three sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Worsley of Laguna Beach, Mrs. Betty Moses of Claremont and Mrs. Edith Eckart of Pasadena.

The Reverend Bruce Kurrle, pastor of St. John’s Church at Compton, officiated at Wednesday’s last rites. He was assisted by the Reverend William Stoddard.  Burial was in Inglewod Memorial Park, under the direction of the Need Funeral Home.

Among those attending the funeral from Escondido were Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Reed, Mr. and Mrs. Luther L. Murders and Mrs. Charles Zimmer. Mrs. Reed is a sister-in-law of the deceased and Mrs. Murders and Mrs. Zimmer are her nieces.

Escondido Times-Advocate June 30, 1960 

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World Famous Poet Makes Campbellsville Her Home

It has been said that a good writer is the person with full-orbed experiences and a sensitive heart and mind. Campbellsville has just such a person. She is Helen Frazee-Bower, one of America's finest writers of verse. Mrs. Frazee-Bower was born in California, the daughter of a landscape painter and writer. She is now the wife of a musician and the mother of five grown children. Two of her children, Lanier Bower and Mrs. W. R. Mann live here. 

 Lanier Bower is a talented musician and is director of the youth work at the Campbellsville Methodist Church. Mrs. Frazee-Bower has had a rich and full life. Besides being a noted author, she has taught in the Los Angeles City School System, has been a well-known speaker, and Bible teacher. 

 In November, 1955, the busy life of the author was interrupted when she was struck down by an automobile in Los Angeles. Since that time she has been paralyzed from her shoulders down. But her poetry continues with the aid of her husband, to whom she dictates her work. Although confined to a wheelchair at present, her fine mind is still active. 

 Mr. and Mrs. Bower moved this fall from California to Campbellsville and they have just completed their new brick home on Poplar Street, just at the rear of their daughter's home.

 A devout woman, her poems and stories have a deeply spiritual nature. Her work has appeared in many religious publications, in most of the better poetry magazines, and in Harper's, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping and other periodicals. She has received many awards and her sonnet, Retreat, won first prize in the Robert Browning poem contest in California. This fall, Mrs. Frazee-Bower's latest book of religious poems, "Garment of Paradise," was published by Bruce Humphries, Inc., Boston. Copies may be ordered from the author at $2.75 each. 

 Her poems have been widely used by ministers and in radio broadcasts. They have been extensively reprinted and some have been set to music. The November 15th issue of Saturday Evening Post carries one of Mrs. Frazee-Bower's latest poems, "This Is To Walk," which greatly exemplifies her great faith and love of life. Reprinted below is her poem, "This Is To Walk."

I walk, for walking is not steps alone
In delicate precision, each on each.
But walking is all motion I have known:
Bright curves of waves along the sun-swept beach,
Slight stir of silver poplar leaves, the long
Slow undulations of the ripened grain
Wind-tossed and in the quiet dusk, the song
That falls in slender cadences of rain.
This is to walk: Not just to lift the feet,
But oh, to lift the hear wherever breaks
The tide of motion, to take up the beat,
The pulse, the rhythm, though the body aches
With grim frustration, all the senses thrill.
This is to walk - while lying still, so still.

The Central Kentucky News-Journal, December 13, 1956