Eleanor Jane Bowles

Longtime Wasilla resident Eleanor Jane Bowles, 73, died Feb. 20, 2011, at her home.

Per her request, no services will be held. Her ashes will be spread at Hatcher Pass at a future date.

Eleanor was born April 19, 1937, to Roscoe and Martha (Simpson) Suddarth in Fairfield, Ill. She moved to Alaska in 1961. Eleanor had lived in Firelake and Birchwood. She was a school bus driver in Chugiak from the early 1970s to the 1980s. She enjoyed family, flowers, baking and word search puzzles.

“Family meant the world to our mother,” wrote her children.

Preceding her in death were her parents, three brothers and two great-grandchildren.

She is survived by her husband, Donnie, of 55 years; sons, Jim Bowles and his wife Debbie of Wasilla, Doug Bowles and his wife Debbie of Yentna River; daughters, Dana and her husband Richard VanderMartin, and Debbie and the late Dennis Williams of Wasilla. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Jennifer and her husband Joe Brookman, Elissa Bowles, Courtney, Heather, Mathew, Mandi, Stormy and Jenesys VanderMartin, Brad and his wife Denise Helwig, Chad Helwig, Chrystal Braddock, Heidi Davis, Christine Fenton, Nicholas and his wife Tiffany Williams, Cynthia and her husband Joseph Smith; and her great-grandchildren Aston and Alysen Brookman, Ivie, Mazie and Ameillia Bowles, Sierra and Trevor Helwig, Justin Davis, Holly, Jagger and Serenity Fenton, Dennis Cole, Addie Williams and Remedy Smith. She is also survived by several sisters and brothers in Fairfield, Ill.

“We would like to thank Mat-Su Regional Hospice in Wasilla for the wonderful care it gave our mother,” the family wrote.

The family was cared for by Valley Funeral Home and Crematory in Wasilla.