Mrs. Ruth Edith Rogers Cowgill of Searcy departed this life on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, at the age of 97. She was born in Romance, Ark., on Oct. 7, 1924, the daughter of Edmund Hamburg Rogers and Macy Coston Rogers.
Mrs. Cowgill was a graduate of Floyd, Ark., High School, where she was member of the girls’ varsity basketball team. After graduating, she resided for a time in Newport, Ark., when her oldest son, Bobby, was an infant. After a time, Mrs. Cowgill moved to Searcy, where she started her nurse’s training at the Rodgers Hospital, initially living in the hospital dorm with other nurses in training. After receiving her nurse’s certificate, she stayed on at Rodgers Hospital as a surgical nurse for several years. After her hospital career, she worked as an office nurse for Dr. C.W. Jackson in Judsonia, Ark., during the 1960s before ending her nursing career at the Searcy Medical Center as an office nurse for Dr. Sidney Tate. After a short retirement at 66, Mrs. Cowgill started working at the local Walmart store in the jewelry department for the next 24 years, finally retiring permanently at the age of 90.
She was married three times and survived all three husbands, Robert Lowell Nelson, Vernon A. Wright and John D. Cowgill, the latter for 24 years.
She was a member of the Associated Women for Harding and the Red Hat Society. Mrs. Cowgill was a longtime member of the Westside Church of Christ in Searcy.
Mrs. Cowgill is preceded in death by her brothers, Elmore Rogers, Johnny Rogers, Ed Rogers, Bruce Rogers, Hubert Rogers and Carl Rogers; and sisters, Gladys Rogers, Lucille McKay, Ailene Moon and Hazel Coborn; and her parents. She is survived by her sister, Emma Gene Reames, and brother, John Plant “JP” Rogers and his wife, Shirley and two sons, Robert Lowell “Bobby” Nelson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., and Rob W. Wright of Dallas, Texas. Mrs. Cowgill had 25 nieces and nephews, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Friends may visit one hour before the memorial service, which will be Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, at 11 a.m. at the Romance Church of Christ with Richard Rodgers officiating. Interment will follow at the Church of Christ cemetery.
Online guestbook: roller funeralhomes.com
Published by The Daily Citizen on Feb. 2, 2022.
