Bowsher-Booher Foundation

Mission To support charitable, scientific, literary and educational efforts in St. Joseph County, Indiana, with an emphasis on early childhood education. About the Foundation The Bowsher-Booher Foundation was established by Eleanor Booher Bowsher Warner as a continuing memorial to her deceased husband, Jay C. Bowsher, and his brother, Delevan D. Bowsher, sons of South Bend pioneers Nelson P. and Clarissa Bowsher. She believed that the foundation would be a fitting way for the family to give something back to the community which had given so much to them. Eleanor Booher was born on March 22, 1891. She grew up on a farm near Dayton, Ohio, taught in the country schools, and then moved to Chicago to further her education at the University of Chicago. She graduated with honors and then taught in the Oak Park, Illinois schools until coming to South Bend. She met Jay C. Bowsher while teaching at Central High School, and they married in 1937. Jay C. Bowsher died on August 12, 1950. Mrs. Bowsher later moved to Coral Gables, Florida, where the couple had a winter home. She subsequently married Dr. James Warner, a professor of English at the University of Miami. She passed away on March 4, 1980.