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Mary Jane Fowler was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma on February 2, 1931 to Howard R. Ritchey and Pearl (Edwards) Ritchey. She graduated from the Bartlesville school system and attended Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority.
From an early age Mary Jane showed her love for animals. She brought home so many stray dogs and cats that she was often in trouble with her parents. That love of animals followed he for the rest of her life.
Mary Jane spent time in the summer at the local swimming pool where Bartlesville native Arlen Fowler was a lifeguard for the summer before going to A&M in the fall. Even though her sister and brother attended Oklahoma University at the time, Mary Jane chose to follow Arlen to A&M.
Mary Jane and Arlen were married in November, 1950, in Bartlesville. In June, 1952 Arlen was called to the service and sent to Korea as an infantry Lieutenant. Six weeks before he left their first child (Chris) was born. For the next 30 years the family moved often due to Arlen's careers in the military, the clergy and the university. They lived in eight states, and thirteen cities. During that time Mary Jane was a den mother, Camp Fire leader, a Sunday school teacher and made a home for the family.
The Fowlers moved to Ardmore in 1983 where Arlen took the job as pastor of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. Mary Jane has been involved in the community serving on the board of the YWCA the Ardmore Day Nursery. She was also a member of Ladies of the Leaf and PEO. She enjoyed playing Mah Jongg, doing needle work and growing flowers.
Mary Jane's parents, sister, brother and daughter preceded her in death.
She is survived by her husband Arlen; brother Dr. Grant Ritchey (Norman); son Clark and wife Valerie (Chicago), daughter Sally Haughey (Massachusetts), son Andrew and wife Sue (Los Vegas); grandchildren Courtney Ferrante, Liz Hartley, Ben Haughey, Caitlin McArthur, Kelsey McBoyd, Abbey Haughey and Levi Fowler; great-grandchildren Leo, Olivia, Kaiden and Kamden.
Published in Examiner-Enterprise from Sept. 7 to Oct. 6, 2018
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