Helen Florence Holcomb Cowart

Helen Florence Holcomb Cowart January 19, 1929 - December 16, 2016 Helen Florence Holcomb Cowart passed away on December 16, 2016 in her home in San Antonio, Texas surrounded by her family. The event can be summed up in one of her many famous sayings, “Well, ain’t that a revolting development.” Those who knew her have lost a mother, sister, aunt, friend and longtime Young and the Restless viewer. The world at large has lost a one-of-a kind resident. Helen was a proud Texan, born on January 19, 1929 and raised in Bulah, which, unless you are from those parts, have probably never heard of before. It is near Rusk in East Texas and her family has lived in and around that neck of the woods since before Texas was Texas – a fact Helen held very close to her heart. As a child, she attended the Bulah Elementary School which was, as she always carefully pointed out, not quite a one-room schoolhouse. “It had two rooms.” She went to the big city to complete her primary education and graduated early from Rusk High School in 1945. Afterwards, she went to Lon Morris Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas and completed her Associates Degree in Music in 1947. On August 29, 1948 at the ripe old age of 19 she married James E. Cowart, who had moved to Rusk a few years earlier from Dallas. Even though she initially thought he was a uppity city slicker, she started dating him to make some of the other girls jealous and decided that he wasn’t so bad after all. Theirs was a long, strong, and happy marriage. Helen and Jim moved to Houston in 1949 where Jim attended Baylor College of Medicine. Helen used her musical training and sang with various church and choral groups in the area, including the Houston Symphony Chorale under the direction of Alfred Urbach. After medical school, Jim accepted an internship at Gorgas Hospital, so Helen moved with him to the Panama Canal Zone, which was quite a move for an East Texas girl. She enjoyed the beauty of Panama and loved to pick avocadoes from the tree in her backyard, until she found out certain snakes in Panama live in the trees. Then someone else had to do the picking. After Panama, Helen moved to Hawaii to join Jim as he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Helen loved absolutely everything about Hawaii, especially the fact that it has no snakes. The Cowarts eventually settled in Bay City, Texas where Jim set up his medical practice. Helen raised five children, numerous foster children and even owned and operated her own daycare, Kids and Co. She was a member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority in Bay City and, along with her good friend Rose Cannon, organized the Women’s Republican Club and the first Pink Ladies Association at the Matagorda General Hospital. She was active in her children’s schools with the PTA and the Bay City High School Band Booster Club and she was at just about every sporting event, band concert, music recital, or dance recital her children did. Helen was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and exemplified a life of Christian service. She loved people and took care of them. She followed the commandment to honor her parents, caring for both her own father and her mother-in-law before they passed away. She literally had an open door policy in her home where not only friends were always welcome, but also foster children, sick people, exchange students, and she even let the pregnant cat that moved into the garage come and stay. After 50 years in Bay City, Jim retired from his medical practice and in 2007, he and Helen moved to San Antonio to live with their daughter, Mary. In San Antonio, Helen made fast friends and spent her time serving in her church, getting her nails done, attending Reagan High School Choir concerts, cooking for family and friends, loving on grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and struggling to figure out the TV remote. And recently, she kept up her open door policy and her lifelong love of animals by taking in and bottle-feeding a stray kitten that was found on her front porch. Helen is survived by: her children, Robert Walter Cowart II (Sandy), John Timothy Cowart (Aimee), Mary Frances Cowart, and Agatha Anne Jenkins (Mark); and two siblings, Emmett Holcomb of Bulah, Texas and Mary Jane Wylie of Longview, Texas. She is also survived by 15 grandchildren, 30+ great-grandchildren (everyone has lost count), and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. Helen is preceded in death by: her beloved husband and best friend, James E. Cowart; her oldest baby, James E. “Jed” Cowart Jr. and daughter-in-law, JoAnn Haws Cowart; her adored parents, Harvey and Norene Holcomb (a.k.a. Daddy Papa and Big Momma); and her sweet big sister, Mamie. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at Adams Chapel Methodist Church in Bulah, Texas. Interment will follow at the Holcomb Family Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest next to her husband and five generations of her family. Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday, December 19, 2016 at the funeral home. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, December 22, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. in San Antonio, Texas at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 645 Knights Cross Drive.