Obituaries

Mary B. Bowdring Volunteer

Mary B. Bowdring, 77, a onetime nurse who became a volunteer at the Mount Vernon Center for Community Mental Health, where she also served on the advisory and governing boards, died Sept. 29 at her home in the Alexandria part of Fairfax County. She had congestive heart failure.

Mrs. Bowdring was a volunteer at the Mariah Center, a pregnancy crisis center in Alexandria, and the Alexandria Police Department. She was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria, where she helped start a fundraising arm for its school.

Mary Bassette was a native of Somerville, Mass., and a 1953 graduate of the St. Elizabeth's Hospital nursing school in Brighton, Mass. She was a registered nurse in Massachusetts before settling in the Washington area in 1965. She had a second home in Marshfield, Mass.

Her hobbies included bridge and crossword puzzles.

Two daughters died, Maryann Bowdring in 1975 and Arline Bowdring in 1990.

Survivors include her husband of 55 years, Howard P. Bowdring of the Alexandria part of Fairfax County; seven children, Michelle B. Shaw of McLean, Nancy B. Mino of Gates Mills, Ohio, Patricia Shaffer of Sterling, Elizabeth Day of Miami Shores, Fla., and Katherine F. Bowdring, Howard P. Bowdring Jr. and William F. Bowdring, all of the Alexandria part of Fairfax County; four sisters; and 14 grandchildren.

-- Adam Bernstein

Marin S. Day Women's Club President

Marin S. Day, 86, a founder and past president of the Suburban Woman's Club of Montgomery County, an affiliate of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, died Oct. 11 at Cortland Acres Nursing Home in Thomas, W.Va. She had Alzheimer's disease.

Mrs. Day was a magazine editor for a women's club publication and for a time did administrative work for the general federation in Washington. She was a longtime Bethesda resident and member of Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church.

In 1982, she moved to Deep Creek Lake, in Western Maryland. She still had the home after entering the nursing home last year.