Ruth Hutchins (Cowsert) Hart

Ruth Lowan (Cowsert) Hutchins Hart, longtime former Konawa resident, passed away on Monday, September 3, 2007 at Colonial Estates Nursing Home in Shawnee at the age of 81.rnrnShe was born December 6, 1925 in Konawa, OK to Lyman Elbert & Emma Evaline (Key) Cowsert. She graduated from Konawa High School and was the Salutatorian of her class in 1943. She held a close bond with her classmates meeting with them at every school reunion until this year, due to her poor health.rnrnAfter graduation Lowan worked at the Dixie Store, Roy Stephens Garage as a bookkeeper, Oklahoma Natural Gas Company for five years as a bookkeeper and teller, Oklahoma State Bank in Konawa as a teller and as a bookkeeper at the Quality Materials rock quarry west of Sasakwa. In 1967 she went to work as a teller at First National Bank in Konawa and retired from there in 1988. At that time she stated, "For 60 years a member of the Cowsert family has been on Broadway in Konawa serving the public." Her father, Lyman, had had a furniture store and was a barber in Konawa until just prior to his death in 1961. rnrnLowan met her first husband, Edgar Carl Hutchins while working at Oklahoma Natural Gas and they were married in the home of her parents on June 9, 1950. To this union, one son, Edgar Carl "Ed" Hutchins, Jr. was born. Carl preceded her in death in 1973.rnShe later married James E. Hart in February 1983 in Tecumseh, OK. She and James moved to Shawnee prior to her retirement in 1988. Except for a short period where she and James moved back to Konawa, she spent the remainder of her life after retirement in Shawnee. rnrnLowan was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Konawa for over 50 years and considered it her church home even after she moved to Shawnee.rnShe also was a member of the Order of Eastern Star for almost 50 years and greatly enjoyed her work in that organization and the women associated with it.rnrnShe is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, Ed and Denise Hutchins of Shawnee; three grandchildren, Elizabeth Morgan and her husband Matthew, Christina Payne and her husband Ryan and Nick Hutchins; three great grandchildren, Anna and Madison Terrell and Luke Morgan; one sister, Annie Mae Biege and her husband John; brother-in-law, Newton Scoggins; sister-in-law, RosaLee Cowsert and several nieces and nephews. rnrnShe was preceded in death by her parents; both husbands; two brothers, William and John Cowsert; two sisters, Florence Disch and Mary Lou Scoggins and four infant brothers and sisters.rnrnFuneral services will be held on Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 2:00 P.M. at Swearingen Funeral Chapel in Konawa with Pastor Johnny Stephens officiating. Burial will follow at Konawa Cemetery.rnrnServices are under the direction Swearingen Funeral Home of Konawa.rn Funeral Information: September 4, 2007, 2:00 AM