Barbara Reed Benham Bowles died peacefully on April 9, 2016 at the age of 95. The eldest child of Edwin and Edith Reed, she was born on July 19, 1920 in Buffalo, New York.
She graduated from Reading High School and attended the prestigious Peter Bent Brigham Nursing School in Boston for one year before returning to the Reading area at wartime to work for Jacobson Aircraft in Pottstown. It was there that she met her future husband, Arthur W. Benham Jr. They started dating several years later while she was enrolled in Westminster Choir College. She graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor's Degree in Music with a concentration in Organ and Voice.
She and Art were married in 1948. They had five children and raised them on their 14 acre family home she named "Windswept."
She was very active in the community serving as a Deacon of the First Presbyterian Church and in various volunteer leadership roles for the Women's Exchange, Wyomissing
Institute and the Embroiders Guild of America. In fact, she led a group of women over a period of years to create needlepoint cushions for every pew in the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Reading.
A renowned hostess and gourmet cook, she loved to entertain at "Windswept" and taught each of her children the love for and appreciation of cooking and fine food. She also was a passionate proponent of classical music, holding season tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra for years and attending both orchestral concerts and opera in New York City whenever possible.
After the death of Art in 1984, she married Dr. Ira R. Bowles, an acquaintance from college and lived in San Marcos, Texas for 16 years. Returning to Reading after Ira's passing in 2000, she lived with two of her sons for many years and traveled to Florida frequently to visit her only grandchild, Joshua Connors.
She is survived by her daughters, Barbara (Rowen) Negrin and Emily (Jim) Connors of Florida; sons, A. William III and Eric D. Benham of Reading; grandson, Joshua Connors; as well as nieces and nephews: John Reed of Boyertown, Patty (Barry) Glynn, Molly (Lew) Kershaw, Kate (Chad) Shaw of Maine and Ben (Dean) Reed of Germany.
Friends are invited to gather on Saturday morning, April 16th from 9:15 - 10 a.m. at the Feeney Funeral Home. A prayer service will be held at 10 a.m. Interment will follow in Fairview Cemetery in Boyertown, PA.
Contributions in her name and memory may be made to The Philadelphia Orchestra, One South Broad Street, 14th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
Arrangements entrusted to the John P. Feeney Funeral Home, in Reading's Centre Park Historic District. 625 N. 4th St. at Centre Ave. (Route 61), Reading, PA 19601.
