Molly Bowden of Blowing Rock, NC, passed away peacefully on June 17, 2024, at Deerfield Ridge Assisted Living. She was 91 years old.
Molly is survived by her daughter, Margaret Bowden Gilleskie and husband Mark of Blowing Rock, NC; her two granddaughters, Molly Presnell and husband Austin of Banner Elk, and Maggie Gilleskie of Charlotte, NC; a step great-grandson, Aiden Presnell of Banner Elk; her niece, Julie Thomas of Richmond VA and her family; her cousin Cathi Turner of Durham, NC and her family and siblings and a special friend and caregiver, Marie Weaver.
Molly was born in Durham, NC on December 3rd, 1932, to Charles and Mabel Atkins. Molly was a graduate of Women’s College (now UNC-Greensboro) with a BA in Music as an Organ Major. Music was a large part of her life, playing as an organist for churches and friends and families’ weddings in her early career. The majority of her career was spent as a Secretary for the Chaplain’s Program at Duke University Hospital, where she retired in 1995. She made many lifelong friends while working at Duke. She moved to Boone, NC in 1998 after her two granddaughters were born. Molly loved the North Carolina mountains as well as the beach, especially Holden and Kure Beaches in NC. She was a sports lover, an avid UNC fan, especially UNC basketball and a Braves baseball fan. She was a member of Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church in Blowing Rock, NC. Molly loved her family more than anything and was fortunate to live close to them in her later years and played a large part in her granddaughters’ lives. She was known to her granddaughters and many of their friends as ‘Grandmommy’.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Jim Heldman, and the father of her daughter, Jack Bowden, to whom she was married to for 22 years.
We would like to say a special thank you to Deerfield Ridge Assisted Living and Medi Home Hospice for the wonderful care they provided Molly in her last months.
A private service will be held at a later date, and Molly’s ashes will be spread in Durham per her wishes.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.hamptonfuneralnc.com
Hampton Funeral and Cremation Service is in charge of the arrangements.
