Violet Elnora Sias Bowden was born into this world on August 10, 1935. She was her mother Violet Brown Sias' 7 ^th child and her father Henry Sterling Sias, Sr.'s 9th child. She flourished, and was nourished, as a youth by loving kin, a spiritually strong community, and the ever-present influences of the great Mississippi River Delta, in Issaquena County, Mississippi. She was baptized at an early age along with her brother Willie (Bill) at Woodland Baptist Church. She was a bright and pleasant child and the apple of her father's eye. She worked hard; farming alongside her siblings and cousins, doing the necessary chores associated with farm life, being an ace student at Talullah Rosenwald School, and helping with her younger siblings. She also played hard with her siblings and cousins. She fished, rode horses, picked fruit and berries, and made as much mischief as any kid could out in the country.

At the conclusion of her secondary education, she was encouraged by her parents, to leave the farm and seek opportunity in Chicago, where she could be supported by some of her older siblings. She continued her education by attending Cortez Peters Business College, in Chicago, while working in a variety of factory and office jobs. She enjoyed the lifestyle of an intelligent, young, Black woman in the golden days of Chicago's Bronzeville. She witnessed performances of some of the greatest talent ever born of the Great Migration; Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Redd Fox, to name a few. Although she enjoyed the secular activities that were so plentiful, she was still a spiritual being. She explored churches that she never had known in Mississippi. She attended church with her friends and found herself intrigued by the quiet serenity of the Catholic Church. After contemplation and study, she committed herself to Catholicism and was christened as a Catholic.

While enjoying the bustling, exhilarating life of the big city, through an introduction by her sister, Yvonne, she met her future husband, Marion Bowden (Alvin). Violet married the native Chicagoan on February 7, 1959. Violet bore four children and became a full-time mother to Marian, Miriam, Elva, and Michael. She completely devoted herself; she sewed, drove them to their various activities, played games, planned all sorts of cultural enrichment, presided over reluctant homeworkers, and even attended all the ballgames! She was all in. Anyone could see that her children were her passion. She was so family oriented that her care and acceptance extended to any of her siblings and other kin, Alvin's kin, her children's friends and even her friends' children's friends.

Once the children were independent and occupied, she went back into the workforce as a secretary and administrative assistant. She made friends and enjoyed the work at Andersen-Jacobsen, an early computer company, and she wound up her career working at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 16 years. She retired July 31, 2005. After she retired, she helped her daughter Elva with her boys Michael and Connor and then her son and daughter-in-law, Michael, and Angela, with their twins Lexie and Lance.

Violet had two other passions, in addition to caring for her family: road trips and going to the casino! Even though she did not care for flying, Violet loved to travel, her first big trip was to Europe, where she and the family went on a 3-week junket to London, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, and Rome. She took quite a few journeys by car to everywhere from Maine to Mississippi, from Maryland to Missouri. She visited casinos in every state she visited that had one!

Some measure their success in life by accolades for their education and their status in the workplace, but Violet's achievements outweigh those; she loved deeply -- rarely by word, strongly and frequently by action. Violet was called Home on September 3, 2022, she was preceded by her Mother Violet and her father Henry, siblings Cora, Valena, Leo, James, Julius, Ollie Mae, Ernest, Willie (Bill), Yvonne, Wendell, and Webster (Bob). Left to mourn her loss are her siblings Henry, Lucille, Desiree and Barthonia as well as her children, grandchildren, numerous cousins, nieces and nephews, and precious friends.