Virginia Hammett Gowan

Virginia Hammett Gowan, 99, passed away on May 30, 2023, in Dahlonega, Georgia. She had been a resident of the Dahlonega Assisted Living and Memory Care for the past four years.

Born on April 8, 1924, in Spartanburg County, SC, she was the daughter of the late Howard Hammett and Mary Underwood Hammett Moss. She was predeceased by her husband of 63 years, Dupre Gowan. She completed business school after high school, and later completed a data processing course when computers were still limited in use.

Her faith was very important to her and for 40 years she was immersed in the life and ministry of her husband’s churches in Western North Carolina Alaska, Tennessee, and Ohio, often teaching Sunday School or Training Union courses, leading the Women’s Missionary Union or Girls in Action groups, or taking leadership roles in the Baptist Association of churches where they lived. Her volunteer work also included teaching English as a Second Language while in Anchorage, Alaska, and working with the interdenominational benevolence committee during their time in Poland, Ohio. She loved cooking, especially baking, and was always ready with a casserole, cake or pie when needed or just to share with a neighbor or friend.

She also was an expert gardener and spent many hours canning and freezing vegetables from her garden or tending her irises and other flowers. Over the years, she worked in a variety of jobs, including spinning in a textile mill, data entry in a bank, and church secretary. Her last job was working as a sales associate at the Belk store in Forest City, NC. She retired from Belk in her early 80’s. A skilled seamstress, she made clothes for herself and her daughters, and loved quilting well into her 90’s.

Survivors include her three daughters: Judith Gowan Taylor of Spartanburg, SC, Joye Elaine Gowan of Crossville, TN, and Mary Gowan Moore and her husband Ed of Dawsonville, GA; a grandson, Ronald Taylor and his wife Kathy of Boiling Springs, SC; two granddaughters, LouEllen Speer and her husband, Robert, of Union, SC and Abigail Stewart and her husband, Drew, of Fort Stewart, GA; and seven great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by two sisters, Lucille Wessinger and Hazel Seay and a son-in-law, Ken Taylor.

A graveside service of committal will be held at 11:00 am, Friday, June 2, 2023, at Springhill Memorial Gardens, 1011 S. Alabama Ave., Chesnee, SC 29323, conducted by The Rev. Dr. Ed Moore.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mission Dignity at

www.guidestone.org/Mission-Dignity

An online guest register is available at www.floydmortuary.com 

Floyd’s Boiling Springs Chapel