Janet Fowler Hovis

Born in Schenectady, NY on August 17, 1931, Janet Hovis died at the age of 91 in Black Mountain, NC on August 21, 2022. Spending her first nine years in Japan while her father William Kirk Fowler III worked for General Electric, she had to leave Japan in 1940 with her mother Ethel, and younger brother William Kirk Fowler IV, separated from their father until his return two months prior to Pearl Harbor. In her adult years, with her beloved husband of 51 years, Charles Patrick Hovis (an attorney and Administrative Law Judge who died in 2010), they raised their three daughters in Rockville, MD. When both retired from employment with the Federal Government, they split time between homes in Hilton Head Island, SC, and Maggie Valley, NC, eventually living full-time in Waynesville and finally Asheville, NC. A graduate of Cornell who studied at Yale Medical School, she was a research scientist in microbiology at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. Greatly influenced by a political science professor at Cornell, Janet became a lifelong Democrat and a strong supporter of women’s rights, civic engagement, and universal health care. She was an active member of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church and an outspoken advocate for full inclusion of the LGBTQ community in the Presbyterian Church, USA. Janet and Charlie were avid students in the College for Seniors program (OLLI) at the Reuter Center (UNCA) and regular patrons of the Asheville Symphony. They found great joy traveling throughout the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and Australia. For their 50th wedding anniversary on May 2, 2009, they renewed vows at the same time their daughter Carol and son-in-law Chris Highland were married at the Green Gulch Zen Center in Muir Beach, CA. Janet was pleased and proud that each daughter became a teacher. With her insatiable curiosity and scientific mind, Janet was a voracious reader, especially books on politics and religion. She is survived by her daughters, the Rev. Carol Hovis (Chris Highland) of Asheville, Katherine Anne Hovis of Denver, CO, and Brenda Baker Hovis Lewis of High Point, NC, her grandchildren Corynne and Dylan, brother Bill Fowler (Bunny) of Westcliffe, CO, as well as wonderful nephews, nieces, and cousins. A celebration of her life including a garden committal of ashes will be held at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (789 Merrimon Ave. in Asheville) on Sunday, September 25, 2022, at 2:00 pm. The family is profoundly grateful to the staff of Givens Highland Farms and Four Seasons Hospice for their compassionate attention to Janet in her final weeks and months. In lieu of flowers, the family requests any memorial contributions to go to: Marvelous Math Club—UNCA Foundation (https://www.ashevillecityschools.net/Page/4985); Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, Asheville (https://gcpcusa.org); or Doctors without Borders (https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org).

Tributes

Janet Fowler Hovis

August 17, 1931 - August 21, 2022