Virnette Reid Fowler

Virnette Reid FowlerVirnette Reid Fowler, 94, died on Sunday, May 5, 2013 in Midland. The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Nalley-Pickle Welch Funeral Home, 3800 North Big Spring in Midland. A private family service will take place on Friday at Trinity Memorial Park in Big Spring.Adgie Virnette Reid was born on November 8, 1918 in Leola, Arkansas, three days before the Armistice ending WWI. Her father was Patrick Cleburne Reid. Her mother, Martha Catherine Samuel Reid (Katie), fell ill with the epidemic Spanish Flu of 1918 after giving birth, so baby Virnette was sent to live with her grandmother and aunt for the first months of her life. She was the sixth of nine children, and the last surviving member of those siblings, who included Christine, Worley, Eugene, Jesse, DeWitt, Sue Trammell, Harold and Forrest Reid.The Reid family moved to Roby, Texas in 1929. Virnette graduated from Palava High School in 1938 and moved to Sweetwater. A few years later, while volunteering at the Sweetwater USO, she met Staff Sergeant Peter Anthony Fowler who was stationed at Camp Barkeley south of Abilene. They married on February 16, 1944. At the end of WWII, they moved to Petes hometown of Oakland, California, later moving to nearby San Lorenzo to start their family, then coming back to Texas to live in Big Spring from1961 until Petes death in 1995. Virnette then moved to Midland. She was a Methodist. Survivors include daughter, Catherine Fowler of Midland, twins, Cynthia Wilson and husband Stephen of Denton, and David and wife DiAnn McGuire Fowler of Midland. Six grandchildren remember her with love: Brian and Julie Fowler, Michael and Kelly Fowler, Robert and Jennifer Fowler, Isaac Hernandez, Ashley Wilson and Lauren Wilson. Her three precious great-grandchildren are Morgan, Addison and Jacob Fowler. She is also survived by one sister-in-law and numerous nieces and nephews and their extended families.The family suggests memorials to the USO (USO.org or PO Box 9622, Washington DC 20090), or to a favorite church or charity.Arrangements are under the direction of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory of Midland. Online condolences can be made at npwelch.com,