| Bowlin, Cindy Berryhill 242555 |
| Birth: 07/30/1957 Death: 05/29/2009 Marriage: 03/04/1988 |
| Cemetery: See Notes |
| Record Source: The Paris News |
| Update info |
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If you copy this information, please cite this as your source: Betsy Mills and Ron Brothers. The Death and Cemetery Records of Lamar County, Texas, ReBroMa Press, 2008, http://www.lamarcountytx.org/cemetery. (12/17/2025) |
| Notes THE PARIS NEWS, May 31, 2009 By Krista Goerte: “Director of women’s shelter found dead - Cindy Bowlin, executive director of Models of the Maker, a local women’s shelter, was found dead in the driver’s seat of a car in Walker Park late Friday night. The preliminary investigation has led police to believe the death was a suicide, due to a gun found in the vehicle along with notes from Bowlin, according to a statement by Paris Police Department. Paris police officer Raymond Moss was patrolling the park shortly after 11 p.m. when he noticed a vehicle in the park with a turn signal flashing. Moss found Bowlin dead, apparently from a single gunshot wound. An autopsy has been ordered, and the case is under investigation. Attempts to contact Bowlin’s immediate family and Models of the Maker board members were unsuccessful, but several residents at Models of the Maker talked about what Bowlin meant to them, and to the organization. ‘It’s not like we lost an executive director, we lost a part of our family,’ said Brandi Bivens, who has worked at Models of the Maker alongside Bowlin for years. ‘I started off like these girls did nine years ago. She was my mentor that long, and my best friend. I know her very well, knew her very well,’ she said. ‘She meant everything to us, because she helped us when we didn’t have anywhere to go,’ said Rochelle McGee, a Models of the Maker resident. ‘Even if we misbehaved in here, she still took us back. ‘It’s really hard to lose somebody you’ve grown to love,’ McGee said. ‘Although she’s not a part of your family, she might as well have been, because when our own families didn’t want us, she did. She looked at whatever we did as part of our past. She meant the world to us, to every woman in here. She said every day wasn’t going to be easy, and she was right about that; every day is not easy.’ McGee said Bowlin talked to the residents daily to make sure they were OK, and to speak the word of God to them. Brittany Bratcher said she came to the shelter with nothing but the clothes on her back, and the organization has helped to get her back on her feet. ‘When I first came here, she went and bought some clothes, some shoes, everything I needed because I came here with a pair of shorts and a tank top, Bratcher said. ‘She’s about the closest thing I recall to family. She gave us all something that we didn’t have before we got here.’ Sherry Mclain said she has been chronically homeless for years and met Bowlin through Models of the Maker about 8 1/2 years ago. ‘I’ve never lived in Paris, but I’ve always remembered her inspiration, her mentorship, her strength, her love, and it just always drew me back here. It didn’t matter how many times I was between times at the shelter, living somewhere else, I’d call her and we would pray.’ Reandra McGee remembers when she first came to the shelter with her young daughter, and Bowlin gave the daughter a blanket. ‘To this day, my baby still has that blanket,’ she said. ‘She’s saved many people’s lives, and that’s just the way she is,’ said Paula Kreais. She said the shelter was Bowlin’s vision and she dedicated her life to it for many years. Bivens said she has been in contact with several of the board members about the future of the organization, which could include her taking over the role of director, although she said nothing is official yet. Several board members recently resigned, and Bivens said new members will be taking their places. Bivens said 12 or 13 women and three children currently stay at the shelter, but that the numbers change constantly.” THE PARIS NEWS, June 02, 2009: “Cindy Berryhill Bowlin, 51, of Paris passed from this life on Friday, May 29, 2009, in Paris. Funeral services are to be conducted at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 3, in the chapel of Starrett Funeral Home with Dr. John Kelley officiating. Interment follows in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Okla. The family receives friends from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. She was born July 30, 1957, in Brawley, Calif., a daughter of James Edward and Patricia Sue Green Berryhill. She was a graduate of California schools, and the founder of Models of the Maker ministries and Ryan’s Heart teen facility in Paris. She married Michael Bowlin on March 4, 1988, in Hugo, Okla. He preceded her in death in 2008. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a son, Ryan Fletcher, in 2005. She is survived by a daughter, Breanna Bowlin of Paris; a grandson, Garrett Blake Fletcher of Blossom; her father, James Berryhill of Hugo; her mother, Patricia Sue Berryhill of Santee, Calif.; a brother, James Michael Berryhill and wife, Melody, of Greenville; two sisters, Lynda Sheri Thurman and husband, Robert, of Santee, Calif., and Michele Suzanne Berryhill of Paris; and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. Friends may register in Cindy’s Book of Memories at www.starrettfunerals.com.” |