About Grandmother

Viola Maud Cowles (nee Hovey), a nearly 50-year resident of Gtenshaw, Pennsylvania and member of Glenshaw Presbyterian Church, was born on May 17, 1910, in Wakefield, Massachusetts, to Roy A. Hovey and Marah Bancroft Hovey.

Viola received her Bachelor of Arts in 1932 from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and in 1935, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the Yale University School of Nursing. Subsequently, she worked in Saint Louis, Missouri, at St Luke's School of Nursing, supervising nursing students.

Viola married John T Cowles on August 13, 1937; he later served as a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, which brought them to Glenshaw, and subsequently at the University of Vermont. John moved to Burlington, Vermont, beginning a nearly three decade separation from Viola and committing apparent bigamy shortly after his move (explanation).

Together, Viola and John had four children, Hovey Madison (San Antonio, TX), Ethan Bancroft (Glenshaw, PA), Roger Anson (1945- 1968}, and Cleveland John (Eagle River, AK}. Viola is also survived by seven grandchildren, Samara T. Cowles; Denis Gregoire Cowles; Erika Kirsten Myers; Jean-Marc O'Connor; Kristofer Dylan Cowles; Todd Christopher Cowles; and Matthew Cowles, and five great grandchildren. Viola's three brothers, Wendell A. Hovey, Albert B. Hovey, and A. Harris Hovey, predeceased her.

Since 1960, Viola was an active member of the Shaler Garden Club. Of all that she did with this group, she is perhaps best known for transporting bouquets to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on a weekly basis during the summer months, for inclusion on the lunch trays of patients. Another activity she was faithful to (and took quite seriously) from 1971 until the late 1990's was decorating the North Hills Public Library at Christmastime, which became quite the family affair. Most of her grandchildren helped with this task while living with her or while visiting during vacations from school. In recent years, her son Ethan assisted her and other members of the club with this task.

Viola served on the Friends of the Library Committee at the North Hills Public Library. She also served on the board of the Glenshaw Public Library for approximately forty years. She was an avid reader and was a member of several reading clubs during her life. Viola was an early member of the Shaler Council of Republican Women, and had served as its President. She was a committee person for the Republican Committee of Shaler Township, representing her local district. Viola served as a member of The Committee of 50 in Shaler Township, and on that organization's Community Council, which assisted with the growth of the township.

Viola loved the outdoors and walked everywhere. She spent time even into her senior years on journeys along the Appalachian Trail, and footpaths to the summit of perhaps a dozen mountains in New England especially Stinson Mountain, near Plymouth, New Hampshire, where her parents had owned Breezy Point, a cabin and acreage along Stinson Lake. She was a bird and animal lover as well; it was not uncommon for her to stop along back roads and interstates to help an injured animal reach the safety of the side of the road, or for her to remove a bird from the traffic lane and bury it properly. Viola loved the opera, theatre, museums and classical music, and to play the piano, but was never too "old" to attend a Star Wars movie with her grandchildren.

There is perhaps no clearer indication of the effect that she had upon people than that virtually everyone --family, friends, and neighbors --cane to refer to her most regularly as, simply, "Grandmother". All of our lives were greatly enriched by her presence. Out of propriety, Grandmother would probably politely acknow1edge and then brush aside such a comment, but not without saying that her life was equally enriched by each of the people who came into it.

Viola passed away August 21-, 2001. She was 39, and holding.