MONUMENTS, STATUES, PLAQUES AND CARMEN COLLINSWORTH BOWEN!

     I spent a great part of my life attempting to collect and understand information, only learning later I had it wrong from the beginning.    As a child of the 1950’s, I was shunted to the side when asking questions or misinterpreted the scraps of details given to me.

     Some of the citizens of Charlottesville, Virginia, were recently protesting the city council approving the sale of statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.  In our melting pot of American cities, where folks move in and out from other locations, these monuments are not as popular with the majority, as they were in an earlier age.  The protesters met shouts of, “The war is over, the South lost…get over it.”  This would not have played well in an earlier age in Charlottesville or my home of Sherman, Texas.

     We have one of the earliest monuments to the Confederate soldiers in the country, sitting on the Grayson County courthouse square.  As a young child, I thought they had selected a dead confederate soldier, coated him in concrete, hoisted him to the top of the monument and bolted him into place.  His bones were to rest high atop the community, gazing over downtown Sherman forever.    

     The same type of assumptions went for any monument or sign around town,  referring to historic figures.  I would get a glimpse inside the sanctuary of the Catholic church on South Travis Street as I walked by.  Inside was a statue of Jesus, his chest was open and his heart was a purplish red.    I KNEW that was the body of Jesus!  He had been kind of laminated and propped up behind the altar!   As a kid, I would ask, “Is that Jesus in there?”     

     “Yes, that is Jesus.”    Well, there you are!  No clarification, no hesitation…that is Jesus Christ, his body resting forever on South Travis Street in Sherman, Texas.  And why not?  The entire world I knew was Sherman, Texas!  Crockett, Travis, Houston…they were all buried around town as well…that’s why we had these streets named for them, so people would know where to find their bodies.

     With this in mind, a great moment for me to remember and for the state of Texas to commemorate, is adding a marker where I received my first, non-grandma kiss … it was a kiss from a pretty, eye-lash fluttering, sweet-smelling young maiden named Linda Eatherly.  I think it was around the 7th grade and my greatest fear was I would faint from the ecstasy!  I am just not certain of the exact location.   

     Some years ago, I was back in Sherman for a 1968 class reunion.  Our teachers, Norman Bennett and Jerry Young, were present, as we shared stories of our time since graduating.  Carmen Collinsworth Bowen was a nurse at the Wilson N. Jones hospital emergency room and Norman relayed a story of bringing his wife in by ambulance.  She had experienced a health issue and the attendants were not optimistic.  Norman was panicked, gripped in fear and Carmen declared in the emergency room, “No one was going to be lost on her watch!”  With tears in his eyes, Norman detailed how Carmen went to work, brought his bride around and saved her life.  When he had completed his story, we were all choked up and smiling through tears at our remarkable friend, Carmen. 

     Our classmate, David Brawner, shared going into insulin shock around Christmas one year and was raced to the hospital.  He could not see, but could feel people all over him, sticking him with needles and monitoring his vital signs.  In his darkness, he inquired if his friend, Carmen Bowen, was on duty.    David said he felt someone squeeze his hand and he heard Carmen’s voice, which spoke with the authority of an angel of God say,  “Don’t worry…I am here.”  She pulled David through.

     Plaques and statues to recognize the heroic  individuals of our civilization are important.  However, rather than fuss about a war that took place over 150 years ago, I suggest we use that same energy to recognize today’s heroes, so their actions will be emulated by a younger generation, seeking excellence and to be the best. 

    Carmen, who has saved others, but lost her own son and husband is an example to us all.  She quietly goes about saving lives, blessing others and fulfilling God’s plan for her life, by utilizing the talents He entrusted to her. 

     One day, that would make a nice monument from which to gain inspiration, on the court house square.   “Well done Carmen, good and faithful servant.”