Longtime Van Buren stateswoman Elizabeth “Liz” McCarthy-Bowers died Jan. 25 at her home in Baldwinsville, five days shy of her 92nd birthday.
McCarthy-Bowers, who served as clerk, supervisor and historian for the town of Van Buren over her decades-long political career, was born Elizabeth Sweeting in her parents’ home on Perry Road on Jan. 30, 1923.
When she graduated from Baldwinsville Academy in 1940, McCarthy-Bowers’ classmates wrote in her yearbook that she was “the most diligent of all,” as she balanced her schoolwork with bowling and extracurricular committees.
“The mainstay of the class, she deserves more credit than she’ll ever receive,” the quotation reads.
“The same thing could be said about her at 91 as when she was 17,” said Rosemary Elderbroom, McCarthy-Bowers’ daughter.
Carrie Johnson, McCarthy-Bowers’ other daughter, said her mother never sought out recognition — she only wanted to serve her community.
McCarthy-Bowers left a footprint on the greater B’ville political world. She was an active member of the Van Buren Republican Committee and the Van Buren Republican Women’s Club, as well as president of the Greater Baldwinsville Economic Development Committee. In 2009, the Baldwinsville Volunteer Center named her Woman of the Year.
In 1978, McCarthy-Bowers was elected town clerk of Van Buren. She held that position until 1993. She went on to become supervisor in 1996, serving until 1999.
Van Buren Town Clerk Lynn Precourt began as deputy town clerk in 1997. She called McCarthy-Bowers a “formidable woman.”
“She was such a great lady,” Precourt recalled. “She was certainly very dedicated to the town — that showed in everything.”
Mary Crego, a member of Van Buren’s board of assessment review, was McCarthy-Bowers’ deputy supervisor. She was Van Buren’s supervisor from 2000 to 2007. McCarthy-Bowers was a friend of Crego’s family and as they worked together in local government, they developed a lasting friendship.
Crego recalled traveling with McCarthy-Bowers and playing bridge with her every week.
“She talked me into running for supervisor myself, so I followed in her footsteps,” Crego said. “I took a lot of inspiration from her because she was such a hard worker.”
By her daughters’ accounts, McCarthy-Bowers never slowed down and never stopped. Even after McCarthy-Bowers retired as supervisor, Crego asked her to become town historian, a post she held until 2013.
“The only thing she never succeeded at was retirement,” Elderbroom said.
McCarthy-Bowers devoted much of her time to the First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville, which she had attended since the age of 5.
She was a deacon and a moderator of the Presbyterian Women of the Congregation.
Van Buren Deputy Supervisor Pat Dickman is a fellow congregant.
She fondly remembered McCarthy-Bowers’ famous pies, which she would sell at the church’s silent auctions.
“She was so involved with every committee at church,” Dickman said. “I don’t know where I’m going to sit at church because I always sat next to her.”
Elderbroom said her mother was an avid knitter, making sweaters and prayer shawls for the church and baby booties, hats and blankets for the children of the waitresses at the B’ville Diner.
Sherry Nesci, a waitress at the diner, remembered McCarthy-Bowers as a sweet lady.
“Everybody was devastated when she passed away,” Nesci said.
According to Nesci, McCarthy-Bowers loved children.
“She’d stop at tables and ask about the little kids in their high chairs, even if she didn’t know them,” she said.
McCarthy-Bowers raised her two daughters and son, Dennis McCarthy, largely as a single mother.
While it was a challenge balancing full-time work, parenting, church, political and social activities, her daughters said McCarthy-Bowers remained unflappable.
“She was ‘Superwoman’ long before that phrase was ever coined,” Johnson said. “She never really saw anything in her life as real adversity — she just plowed on.”
