Characters of the County: Kevin Bowler is Here to Help

Boothbay retiree Kevin Bowler has a packed schedule.

Bowler is the president of the Boothbay Region Garden Club, the second vice president for the Garden Club Federation of Maine, recording secretary for St. Andrews Auxiliary, and chair of a committee seeking to establish a veterans memorial in Boothbay. She said she also helps other community organizations when she can.

Bowler said it can be difficult to find help for many of her organizations. There is a place for anybody, regardless of skill, in these organizations.

“We are the oldest county in the oldest state right now, so we really don’t have a lot of young people,” Bowler said. “All our nonprofits are looking for new members, and you want somebody young to start off.”

From Monday to Sunday, Bowler has an event almost every day for one of her organizations. Every Monday morning, Bowler volunteers as a receptionist at MaineHealth Urgent Care in Boothbay Harbor.

“I notice people,” Bowler said. “I try to say, ‘Oh, you don’t have a walker this time, you’re making progress,’ and I know a lot of people and they say ‘Oh, Kevin, you’re here again.’ I’m like, yes, every Monday until Columbus Day, I’m down here.”

Other days during the week, she has organization meetings or work. With the Boothbay Region Garden Club, Bowler tends to public gardens and window boxes in the region. Dinner events for different community nonprofits pepper her calendar, and for other organizations such as the American Legion veterans organization that Bowler is not part of, she donates her time to cook or bake.

Bowler got involved in volunteering when she retired in 2021, but she said keeping still has been difficult for much of her life. She was born in Richmond, Va., and her family moved many times. Bowler said her masculine first name impacted who she was.

“Having a different name is either going to make you a strong person or very much an introvert,” Bowler said. “I have always been an introvert.”

Bowler moved to Wilmington, Del., and began a computing job at Zeneca Pharmacy, where she met her husband, Bruce Bowler. The Bowlers moved to Boothbay in 1995 when Bruce Bowler got a job at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay.

Bowler said she took up different jobs in Boothbay to keep busy. These included casher work, serving as the town assessor, bookkeeping, and others.

“I’m still evolving,” Bowler said. “The person you would have met when I first moved here, as a cashier at Rite Aid, was sort of shy, and the person I am now, I try to engage people, so I’m not as shy as I used to be.”

Bowler and her husband now have four cats, Mabel, Sully, JoJo, and George.

With retirement, Bowler said her schedule opened up, and she knew many organizations that could use her time. She also saw needs in her community she wanted to fill, she said.

“You have houses here that are only occupied for two weeks out of the year, then there’s people who can’t find a place to live, and they’re living in their car,” Bowler said. “And it’s so wrong, but what can you do? You can only tackle so much at a time.”

Some of Bowler’s favorite memories from volunteering are from the yearly holiday festival the Boothbay Region Garden Club hosts, Bowler said. She remembers giving families Christmas trees, something families may not have experienced otherwise.

“It’s a better feeling for Christmas than money,” Bowler said. “You know that you’re giving something to somebody who may not have it.”

Both the St. Andrews Auxiliary and Boothbay Region Garden Club provide scholarships to students. The Boothbay Region Garden Club hosts several fundraisers throughout the year to raise money for the scholarship. Bowler said meeting scholarship winners and providing that money is some of her most fulfilling work.

“That part is to help kids find their path in life,” Bowler said. “And the fundraising part gets the community involved. And it gets the community involved, and it’s kind of a pride thing. You step back, and you think, all these people got together to make this fun so we can pass it on to the younger people in our community.”

Bowler said she thinks her purpose in life is trying to help people.

“It makes me feel whole,” Bowler said. “I am not left wondering what could I have done. If I had more time, I could do more but I don’t feel that I’m just searching for something to do. I know there are things the community needs, and I’ll just do one.”