Family Life

Graduations, weddings, new babies, anniversaries, birthdays, new jobs, retirements, awards — the things that happen to this family between reunions, finally with somewhere to go.

Family News

Share your news

Anything worth telling the family. Send it to our Family Portal Coordinator, and we’ll post it here and include it in the next family update.

Have a photograph to go with it? Reply to the Portal Coordinator’s confirmation email and attach it.

Birthdays & anniversaries

We'd like to run a monthly list so the family can reach out to each other. Adults can opt in by sending the Portal Coordinator the month and day — no year needed. We never publish dates for anyone under 18 unless a parent opts them in.

The Scott & Tabby Devereux Tree

Arthur and Roberta are where most of us start counting. They are not where the family starts.

Below is the line behind them — read from the top down, oldest first. Scott and Tabby are the earliest ancestors named in the written record. Each step down the page is the next generation, ending with Arthur and Roberta, and then with all of us.

We're building this the right way rather than the fast way. After the 2027 reunion — when we've met in person, compared notes and filled in the gaps only the elders can fill — the tree goes up here, and the family builds it together.

How the tree fits together

Scott and Tabby are the root. Everything below them is one family under many surnames. Arthur and Roberta are one branch, five generations down — the branch holding the 2027 reunion.

The magenta line is the documented descent from Scott and Tabby to Arthur and Roberta. The grey boxes are branches we know exist and have not yet traced. Every one of those surnames belongs on this tree.

The Arthur & Roberta Bowens Tree

Here the roots are Arthur and Roberta, and their fourteen children become fourteen tree trunks. Everything above each trunk is ours to fill in.

Trunk 1

Dan Erwin Bowens

m. Gertie Mae Bryant

The eldest, named for both grandfathers. Father of Artemis Warren Bowens, who wrote our family history.

Descendants on the portal (2)

Grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond

• Tracie Reed Temple, TX
• Ashyia Johnson TX

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 2

Bernice M. Bowens

m. Thomas Harris

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 3

Booker T. Bowens

Spouse not recorded

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 4

Cicero B. Bowens

m. Georgia Mae Wilson

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 5

Horace “Sam” Bowens

m. Suritha Syrentha Johnson

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 6

Clarence “Scooter” Bowens

m. Clara Wilson

He and Cicero married two sisters, Clara and Georgia Mae Wilson.

Descendants on the portal (1)

Grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond

• Shetalia Bowens Mesquite, TX

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 7

Bessie May “Chicken” Bowens

m. Theodice Matlock

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 8

Robert Lee Bowens

Died at 17 or 18 years old

Recorded, and not forgotten.

Trunk 9

Thessalonia “Dank” Bowens

m. Wade Stafford

A twin.

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 10

Baby Bowens

Spouse not recorded

An infant who did not survive. Recorded, and not forgotten.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Trunk 11

Romeo Travis “R.T.” Bowens

m. Dorothy Mae Scott

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 12

Edward “Eddie” Bowens

m. Naomi Alexander

Father of Arnita, host of the 2027 reunion.

Descendants on the portal (1)

Grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond

• Dayleon Darthard Garland, TX

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 13

Mary Lois Bowens

Spouse not recorded

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Trunk 14

Dorothy Earlene Bowens

m. Shirley Bennett Simmons

Descendants on the portal

No one yet. Be the first.

Limb · Branch · Twig · Leaf · Vein

Add to this trunk

Other Monte Verdi families

The descendants of Scott and Tabby carry many surnames — Anderson, Blanton, Booker, Bowens, Bradley, Cooper, Freeny, Lewis, Owens, Williams and others. If your family descends from Monte Verdi and you are planning a reunion of your own, this site can carry it. Write to the Portal Coordinator at treed@bowensfamilyportal.com.

What it will hold

Every branch descending from Scott and Tabby — not only the Bowens line. Names, generations, hometowns and photographs. Relatives will be able to find themselves and see how they are related.

Corrections and additions are submitted for the family historian to review.

Living relatives' addresses, phone numbers and birth dates are never published.

Financial Wellness

Where the money stands

The $10 rollover

Give

Every gift goes to the fund you choose. Online giving opens once the family bank account and giving page are set up; until then, questions go to the Finance & Stewardship Committee through the Contact page.

Monte Verdi

Chapter 1

The Land

Monte Verdi is the East Texas plantation where Scott and Tabby were held, where their children were born, and where the written record of this family begins. About 100 acres of it survive of what was once more than 10,000 acres, along with the house, the Old Birdwell cabin, and three Texas historical markers — one of them dedicated in 2018 to the Monte Verdi Plantation Family Slaves.

The main house at Monte Verdi, built 1856 — Cushing, Rusk County, Texas.

Texas Historical Marker · 2018

Monte Verdi Family Slaves

The State of Texas dedicated this marker in 2018 to the people enslaved at Monte Verdi. It records that the family’s written history begins with Scott and Tabby, born 1792 and 1787, and that Julien Devereux’s 1856 probate records name 80 people held on the estate.

After freedom in 1865, their descendants rarely took the Devereux name. The marker lists the names they carried instead — and Bowens is among them, alongside Anderson, Blanton, Booker, Freeny, Lewis and many more.

The property sits in Rusk County, near Cushing. The family it belongs to does not. Descendants of this place are spread across Cherokee County, Anderson County and the wider East Texas region — and across the country beyond it.

It is privately owned and it is for sale. It has been on the market for some time. There is no guarantee it stays available while we organize. A different buyer could have an entirely different vision for that land.

The question in front of the family

It is not simply “do we want to buy Monte Verdi?”

It is: do we want our children and grandchildren to have the chance to decide what Monte Verdi means to them?

Some of us feel an immediate pull toward that place. Some feel curiosity. Some feel pride in what our ancestors endured and built. Some feel anger, or sadness, or nothing at all. Every one of those responses deserves respect, and none of them has to be settled today.

What this generation should not do is make an irreversible decision by letting the opportunity pass. Preservation protects choice. Ownership protects access. Documentation protects memory. Education protects understanding.

Chapter 2

What It Could Become

One hundred acres of the original 10,721 — and the generation it is being kept for.

What it could become

Not a house you walk through, read a plaque and leave. A working property that earns its keep — where preservation creates opportunity, agriculture creates enterprise, and young people learn to build and own businesses instead of only reading about how wealth was made.

Hospitality and visitors

Line	What it is
Admissions and tours	Guided and self-guided, school groups, private descendant tours.
Heritage lodging	Cabins and restored outbuildings. The Old Birdwell cabin already works as a guest house.
Weddings and events	An 1856 Greek Revival house on a hilltop, two and a half hours from Dallas and Houston.
Retreats and reunions	Corporate retreats, church groups, and family reunions — including ours.
Equestrian	Trail rides, riding programs, boarding.
Festivals	Seasonal and cultural events that bring people back at different times of year.

From the field to the label

An acre is not worth only what it grows. It is worth the whole chain that starts there: soil → planting → harvest → processing → manufacture → brand → packaging → marketing → sale.

Crop	Becomes
Cotton	A heritage crop and a teaching tool. Grown here, then ginned, spun, woven and manufactured by qualified outside partners, and sold as a Monte Verdi private-label collection — shirts, polos, jackets, hats, scarves, sheets, quilts, blankets, towels, table linens.
Grapes	A vineyard, if soil and water support it. Grow here, partner with a licensed Texas winery for production and bottling. A Monte Verdi wine served at dinners, weddings and fundraisers.
Honey, pecans, herbs, fruit, flowers	Monte Verdi Honey. Packaged pecans and gift assortments. Preserves through licensed producers. Cut flowers for the events business.

One rule protects the whole brand. A premium line made from cotton actually grown on this ground is labeled Monte Verdi grown. Everything sourced elsewhere and sold under the name is labeled Monte Verdi branded. The line between the two is never blurred. Authenticity is the only thing here that cannot be bought back once it is spent.

Monte Verdi as a brand

Textiles / Apparel

Monte Verdi Cotton

Shirts, polos, jackets, hats and scarves. Sheets, quilts, blankets, towels and table linens. Grown on this ground, milled by partners, sold under one name.

Food and agriculture

Monte Verdi Farm

Honey, pecans, preserves, herbs, seasonal produce.

Vineyard and hospitality

Monte Verdi Reserve

Wine and hospitality products, where licensed.

Land and power

Monte Verdi Energy

Solar generation on acreage away from the historic core — powering the property first, then selling what is left. Steady income off land that is not farmed, and a trade young people can actually learn: siting, installation, maintenance, metering.

Research

Claiming Sunday, by Joleene Maddox Snider

Archive & genealogy

Memberships, research services, publications, licensing.

The Monte Verdi Heritage Enterprise & Small Business Incubator

Preservation should not mean freezing the place in time. The property becomes part classroom, part laboratory, part business incubator — where young people, descendants and East Texas kids alike, learn to build and run businesses instead of only reading about how businesses were built.

The point is not another museum counter selling keychains. It is young entrepreneurs — running real product lines with real customers and real profit-and-loss statements.

One group runs apparel. Another runs home linens. Another runs the farm products. Another runs e-commerce. They learn inventory, purchasing, pricing, merchandising, wholesale, customer service, digital marketing, product photography, packaging, shipping, forecasting and P&L — on a property, not in a worksheet.

And it does not stop at products. As the place grows, there is real work to learn in hospitality, lodging, food service, events, agriculture, equestrian operations, retail, e-commerce, heritage tourism, media production, landscaping, photography, genealogy and technology — every one of them a business somebody has to run.

Some enterprises stay with the operating company. Some run as partnerships or concessions. Some walk out the gate as independent businesses started by people who learned them here. The goal is bigger than employment. Monte Verdi can teach ownership.

Visitor → student → trainee → employee → manager → entrepreneur → mentor. A child arrives on a school trip. Comes back for summer camp. Joins the entrepreneurship program as a teenager. Interns in college. Runs an enterprise as a young adult. Leaves to start their own. Comes back to teach the next one.

Why cotton, and why it isn’t romantic

Cotton here was never just a plant in a field. It was an economic system — and young people should learn who planted it, who harvested it, who took the money, how the commodity moved, how the wealth was built, and who was locked out of owning any of it.

Then the property can ask the twenty-first-century question: what happens when the descendants get to participate in the ownership, the branding, the management and the wealth?

Growing cotton at Monte Verdi does not have to glorify plantation agriculture. Done carefully, it does the exact opposite.

How the money is structured matters as much as how it is earned. Charitable and educational activity sits with the nonprofit. Retail, lodging, events and agricultural sales are commercial and would be structured and taxed accordingly — ordinarily through a taxable entity owned by the nonprofit, with profits flowing back to the mission. Any arrangement involving family-connected parties would be independently valued, disclosed and approved. This is designed at the start, not patched on later.

Chapter 5

How It Is Governed

How the nonprofit is governed

Through Regenerated Hope, Inc., an established 501(c)(3) of roughly twenty years, restructured around a tripartite board of nine members — three seats to each of three constituencies, rather than control sitting with one family or one point of view.

Nine is deliberate. An odd number breaks ties. Three equal blocs mean no single constituency can carry a vote alone — anything that passes has to persuade somebody outside your own group.

Community representation is drawn from the East Texas region as a whole, not only the county the deed sits in. Rusk County holds the property; Cherokee and Anderson counties hold much of the family.

Three seats

1 · Descendants

Descendants of the people enslaved at Monte Verdi and descendants of Julien Devereux — any of the surnames, not only Bowens — along with those holding the records, documents and knowledge of the property.

Three seats

2 · Elected officials

Elected officials from around the State of Texas, or one named individual each chooses to hold the seat in their place.

Three seats

3 · Independent experts

Subject-matter experts bringing professional and historical expertise, and East Texas community leadership — preservation, law, finance, education, museums, agriculture, archaeology, fundraising.

The point is not to split Monte Verdi into three competing interests. It is the opposite: to make sure no single perspective owns the story, and that decisions about preservation, interpretation, money and programming run through a structure built for accountability.

Both descendant lines share the same three seats, on purpose. The people held at Monte Verdi and the family that held them are not two opposing camps on this board — they are the two halves of one history, and they sit together or the story stays incomplete.

Officials serving in the second bloc do so as individuals. The organization makes no endorsements, and its name, property, mailing lists and events are never used for any campaign purpose.

The board has to be seated before any of this can move

Nine volunteers fill the seats on an interim basis until the first elections. You do not need to be a lawyer, an accountant or a historian — you need to care, show up, read what you are sent, and vote your conscience.

The seats, what the role involves, and how to put your name forward: Serve on the Stewardship Board →

Chapter 6

How It Gets Paid For

How it gets paid for

No single person writes one check. The approach layers capital while keeping charitable funds, private investment, debt and restricted gifts clearly separate.

Stage	What happens
1 · Control	A contract, option or right of first refusal that buys time for due diligence and financing.
2 · Fund	A dedicated capital campaign with documented uses, donor restrictions and transparent reporting.
3 · Anchor	Early commitments from family, major donors, foundations and corporate sponsors.
4 · Layer	Philanthropy, grants, preservation funding, financing and negotiated seller terms combined.
5 · Preserve	Acquisition, stabilization, insurance, security and utilities before any attraction is built.
6 · Sustain	Lodging, tours, programs, camps, memberships, events and venue rental toward operating self-sufficiency.

Any transaction touching Regenerated Hope, family-controlled entities or related parties would be independently reviewed, properly valued, fully disclosed and approved through documented conflict-of-interest procedures.

Chapter 7

Where This Is Going

What can 100 acres do?

They can preserve history. Educate children. Reconnect descendants. Support archaeological and genealogical research. Grow crops. Draw visitors. Create products. Create jobs. Teach business. Incubate entrepreneurs.

And they can give young people the chance to turn a complicated inheritance into something productive that belongs to their future.

Ten years from now

Families drive up from Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston for a weekend. Students walk the property learning history where the history happened. Descendants come to research their people. Children attend summer heritage programs. Researchers dig and read and record. Visitors ride the trails, hear lectures, stay in the cabins, gather for events.

And descendants whose ancestors stood on opposite sides of a terrible chapter help preserve the same ground — without erasing it, softening it, or making it simpler than it was.

We cannot change the history we inherited. We can decide what we do with it.

What this is really about

The history of this ground is the ownership of human beings. Scott and Tabby were property. Their children were property. The wealth that came off these acres was built by their hands and taken by other hands, and they were never permitted to own one inch of it or one dollar from it.

The future of this ground is the opposite of that, and it should be said plainly.

Economic freedom. And the ownership of what our ancestors built.

They cleared this land. They planted it and worked it. They raised the timber and laid the brick of the house that is still standing on that hill. Everything of value here came out of them. Their descendants coming back to steward it is not charity and it is not sentiment — it is the return of something that was always theirs.

And we do not stop there. We keep building. Businesses, brands, enterprises, skills, and young people who learn how ownership actually works. What was denied to Scott and Tabby, and to Mary, and to Anthony, and to Roberta, becomes ordinary for the children coming behind us — including, over time, generational wealth.

That is the whole arc. From owned, to owners. From a place where this family was worked, to a place this family works for itself.

Serve on the Monte Verdi Stewardship Board

Monte Verdi will be held and preserved by Regenerated Hope, Inc., governed by the Monte Verdi Stewardship Board — its nine-seat tripartite board of directors. Those seats are being filled now.

We are calling for volunteers to serve

The board has to be seated before any of this can move. We are asking descendants to step forward and serve.

Volunteers will fill the nine seats on an interim basis until the first elections are held. If you have ever wondered what you could actually contribute to this — here it is. This is the room where it gets decided.

You do not need to be a lawyer, an accountant or a historian. You need to care, show up, read what you are sent, and vote your conscience. If you do bring professional experience — preservation, law, finance, education, agriculture, hospitality, museums, construction, fundraising, genealogy — say so, because it is needed.

Regenerated Hope’s next chapter

Most nonprofits quietly close when their founder steps back. After twenty years as Executive Director, Tracie Reed is prepared to plan instead for a deliberate handoff — moving Regenerated Hope toward leadership drawn from descendants, community representatives and preservation professionals, subject to its governing documents, board approval and proper succession.

The aim is an institution that outlives the person who built it. Regenerated Hope is being offered as a foundation for something larger than any one of us.

Tell us you are interested

This is an inquiry, not a commitment. We will come back to you with specifics before anyone is seated.

← Back to Monte Verdi

Our Story

A family is its stories. This is where we keep ours — and you post to it yourself. No forms to fill out and wait on, no sending things off to be approved. Log in, add it, and it is up.

How posting works

1. Log in with your family account. Every family member gets one when the portal moves to its permanent home.
2. Add your photo, recipe or memorial. It goes up right away, under your name.
3. You can edit or remove anything you posted, any time.

Family Directory

Arthur and Roberta Bowens have descendants in more places than any one of us can name. We're building the list branch by branch, and we need your help to do it.

Add someone to the family — it takes two minutes

No account, no password, no app. Fill this in, press Send, and it comes straight to the Portal Coordinator, who adds them to the family tree for you. Start with yourself, then add your parents, your children and anyone else in your branch.

The one thing we always need is who their parents are. That is the link that holds the tree together. Add as many people as you like — the form clears after each one.

Children under 18

Add the young people too — they are the reason any of this matters. For anyone under 18 we record name, parents and date of birth only. No email addresses, no phone numbers, and nothing about a child is shared outside the family.

Prefer email? Send names straight to the Portal Coordinator at treed@bowensfamilyportal.com.

Comfortable online? Add family on the tree site yourself

If you like working online, you can also add people directly on the Family Tree site and see your branch grow as you go. It takes an account, and every addition is approved by the Portal Coordinator before it appears.

Open the Family Tree site →

What happens to what you send

Anything you send by form, the Coordinator adds to the family tree for you, and the first thing they'll hear is that you sent us their name. Contact details reach other family members only where that person opted in, nothing is shared outside the family, and no contact details are held at all for anyone under 18.

Reunion Committees

Register & Pay

One person registers the whole household. Everyone who is coming gets registered by name and age — from our oldest elders to the newest baby — so we know exactly how many seats, meals and shirts to plan for.

What your registration includes

🎟️ ONE REGISTRATION. ONE INCREDIBLE FAMILY WEEKEND.

This isn’t just admission to a family reunion. Your registration unlocks an entire weekend of food, entertainment, family history, baseball, laughter, dancing, memories — and a few surprises along the way.

Three days where you can taste the food, hear the music and laughter, feel the energy, hug the people you’ve missed and make the kind of memories that stay with you long after the weekend is over.

❤️ THREE DAYS. FIVE HOT MEALS. ONE FAMILY. AND A WHOLE LOT OF FUN.

• Welcome Reception & Dinner
• Grandma Roberta’s Recipe Challenge
• Family Feud
• Artemis Family History Experience
• Live Family Comedy featuring ANATSIA
• Old-School Soul Train Dress-Up Party & Best-Dressed Prize
• Rise, Shine & Move!
• Bowens Family Pre-Game Rally
• Arlington Trolley Ride
• Globe Life Field & Texas Rangers Baseball
• All-You-Can-Eat Ballpark Lunch Buffet
• Transportation to and from the ballpark
• THE FAMILY ROOM
• Professional Photographer & Videographer — including the ballpark
• Family Hospitality Suite & Beverage Service — with rocking chairs for our seniors
• Sunday Family Worship Service
• Welcome Package & Reunion T-Shirt

DALLAS (ARLINGTON) 2027

Come for the reunion. Taste the food. Hear the laughter. Feel the love. Make the memories. Leave with a story.

Here’s everything that’s inside ↓

🍽️FIVE HOT BUFFET-STYLE MEALS — ALREADY INCLUDED!

And when we say meals, we mean meals. Follow the aroma into the room. Fill your plate. Pull up a chair. Hear the conversation around the tables. Taste something good. And go back for seconds.

🍽️ Friday Welcome Dinner

🍳 Saturday Breakfast

⚾ Saturday All-You-Can-Eat Ballpark Lunch Buffet

🍽️ Saturday Dinner

☕ Sunday Breakfast

No disappearing every few hours trying to figure out where everybody is going to eat. Sit down. Eat. Talk. Laugh. Go back for seconds. You’re with family.

🎉FRIDAY NIGHT — THE FAMILY IS BACK TOGETHER!

We start the weekend with our Friday Welcome Reception & Dinner from 5:00–10:30 PM — and we’re packing a LOT into one night.

Walk through the doors and hear the music, smell dinner coming from the kitchen and feel that unmistakable energy of family finding family — names being called across the room, hugs that have been years overdue and laughter getting louder as the evening goes on.

Taste family history during Grandma Roberta’s Recipe Challenge. Pick a side and get ready for our own hilarious Family Feud. Discover where we come from during the Artemis Family History Experience. Then settle in for live FAMILY comedy featuring ANATSIA.

And when the comedy ends, the party begins.

🪩ALL ABOARD THE SOUL TRAIN!

Bell bottoms. Platforms. Afros. Sequins. Jumpsuits. Big collars. Bigger attitudes.

We’re turning Friday night into an Old-School SOUL TRAIN Dress-Up Party with music, dancing and generations of Bowens family members on the dance floor together.

Hear that old-school beat drop. Feel the bass. And when that Soul Train line starts forming — you’d better be ready! And don’t just show up — SHOW OUT!

🏆 A prize will be awarded for BEST DRESSED, so dig deep into that closet and come ready to compete. Dress the part. The cameras WILL be rolling.

💃🏾SATURDAY MORNING — RISE, SHINE & MOVE!

Lace up those sports shoes because Saturday morning starts with music! Rise, Shine & Move! is led by our professional dance choreographer and instructor, combining great music, dancing, stretching and easy-to-follow movement into one high-energy family workout.

AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A DANCER!

Young, old, coordinated, not even remotely coordinated — it doesn’t matter. Hear the music. Feel your feet moving. Stretch those muscles. And laugh when somebody goes left while everybody else goes right.

This is about moving, laughing and starting the biggest day of the reunion together. So put on your sports shoes, get out on the floor and GET MOVING! And after we’ve worked up an appetite, we’ll enjoy a hot Saturday breakfast, get into our Bowens gear and prepare for one of the biggest experiences of the weekend.

⚾SATURDAY — BOWENS FAMILY, MEET GLOBE LIFE FIELD!

📣 THE BOWENS FAMILY PRE-GAME RALLY. Before we head to the ballpark, the Bowens family gets game-day ready! Music playing. Family photos. Team spirit. Excited kids. Everybody together and everybody in their Bowens gear.

🚎 ALL ABOARD! We’re hopping aboard the Arlington Trolley and heading together to Globe Life Field — just a quick five-minute ride up the street — for Texas Rangers baseball! No caravan of cars. No everybody trying to find everybody else in a giant parking lot. The Bowens family rolls out together.

A few minutes later, we walk into Globe Life Field and hear the crowd, see that enormous field open up in front of us, smell the ballpark food and feel the excitement of game day.

WE’RE GOING TO THE BALLGAME TOGETHER!

🌭COME HUNGRY — IT’S ALL YOU CAN EAT!

You know that smell when you walk into a ballpark? Hot dogs. Nachos. Popcorn. Fresh ballpark favorites. The kids can dig into the classics they love.

But grown-ups, we didn’t forget about you. Adults can settle into something a little heartier, including Texas-style BBQ and all the fixings, as part of our all-you-can-eat ballpark lunch buffet while the family enjoys Texas Rangers baseball together.

So grab a plate, watch the game, laugh with your cousins — and when you’re ready, go back for more.

And getting there couldn’t be easier. Globe Life Field is just a quick five-minute ride up the street from the Hilton. We board the Arlington Trolley and head to the ballpark together. When the game is over, we hop back aboard the trolley and make the quick trip home to the Hilton — no caravan of cars, no hunting for parking, and no wondering where half the family went.

WE GO TO THE BALLPARK TOGETHER. WE COME BACK TOGETHER.

📸YOU MAKE THE MEMORIES. WE’LL CAPTURE THEM.

Our professional photographer AND videographer will be with us throughout the reunion. And yes — they’re coming to the ballpark too!

From family portraits and generations together to the dancing, laughter, hugs, game-day excitement and completely unplanned moments that somehow become the best memories of the weekend, we’ll be capturing it all. That first hug. Grandma laughing. Kids cheering at the game. Cousins dancing. Generations standing together for a photograph.

Years from now, we don’t want to simply remember that we had a reunion. We want to be able to see it, hear it and feel it all over again. You enjoy the reunion. We’ll help preserve it.

🎥WELCOME TO THE FAMILY ROOM

Some family stories deserve more than being told once around a dinner table. THE FAMILY ROOM is our professionally filmed oral-history talk show, where family members sit down for one-on-one conversations with our host, who’ll guide the interviews, ask the questions and help bring those family stories to life.

We’ll talk. We’ll laugh. We’ll remember. The people. The places. The personalities. The things Grandma said. The smell of Grandma’s kitchen. The house everybody remembers. The sound of someone’s voice. The food that appeared every holiday. The family sayings everybody somehow still knows.

Because sometimes the smallest details become the biggest memories. And we’re putting it on camera so future generations don’t just read our family history — THEY’LL BE ABLE TO HEAR US TELL IT.

🥂THE BOWENS FAMILY HOSPITALITY SUITE

Need somewhere to put your feet up between activities? Looking for your cousins? Want something to drink and somewhere comfortable to catch up? Come home to the Bowens Family Hospitality Suite, open throughout the reunion as our family gathering place, complete with beverage service.

Grab a cold drink. Find a comfortable chair. Sit down with somebody you haven’t seen in years — and stay awhile. Think of it as our family living room away from home.

🪑 Several rocking chairs will be set out for our seniors — so our elders can rock, rest and hold court while the family comes to them.

🙏🏾SUNDAY — BREAKFAST, FAMILY & FAITH

Before the suitcases roll out and everybody starts making their way home, we have one more morning together. First, we sit down and enjoy Sunday breakfast together. Smell the coffee and hot breakfast, fill your plate and pull up a chair beside somebody you may not see again for another year.

Then we gather as a family for our Sunday Family Worship Service — a time for faith, reflection, gratitude and family before we close out our reunion weekend.

After service come the hugs. The pictures. The suitcases rolling through the lobby. The “call me when you get home” conversations. And the inevitable: “We cannot wait this long to get together again.”

🎁AND DON’T LEAVE WITHOUT YOUR STUFF!

Every registered family member receives an official Bowens Family Reunion Welcome Package, including your reunion T-shirt, personalized name badge and a few extras we’re deliberately keeping under wraps until you arrive. Some surprises should stay surprises.

How to register

1. List everyone in your household. Names, ages, hometown, which branch of the family you come from, and anything we should know — accessibility needs, food allergies, who to call in an emergency.
2. Choose individual registrations or a family package. Registration is priced by age: Senior 65+, Adult 18–64, Teen 13–17, Child 6–12, Young Child 3–5, and Infant/Toddler 0–2 free. Family Packages A, B and C cover one or two adults with their children at a better price. Everything above is included — the Rangers game, the trolley, the ballpark buffet and all five meals — with the hotel’s 25% service charge and 8.25% tax on food already built in.
3. Choose how to pay. All at once, or spread across six monthly payments.
4. Book your hotel room and your travel separately. Your room at the Hilton Arlington is reserved and paid directly with the hotel, plus 8.25% sales tax and 15% hotel occupancy tax. Getting to Dallas–Fort Worth is on each family. Neither is part of your reunion registration — but the trolley to and from the ballpark is.

See the registration options →

The six-month payment plan

Register any time before April 27, 2027 and you can spread your balance across monthly payments. Your card is charged automatically each month and you’ll get a receipt every time. Pay the balance off early whenever you like.

Register & Build Your Weekend

Everyone who is coming gets registered — from our oldest elders to the newest baby — so we know exactly how many seats, meals and shirts to plan for. Your registration covers the reunion itself. Your hotel room and your transportation are separate and are not part of the registration fee.

Hotel food and beverage carries a 25% service charge and 8.25% sales tax. Those are already built into the registration prices, so the price you see is the price you pay.

Hotel and travel — booked and paid separately

Your hotel room is not part of the reunion fee. You book it yourself and pay the hotel directly at check-out. Room charges carry 8.25% sales tax plus 15% hotel occupancy tax. Getting to Dallas–Fort Worth is also on each family. (The trolley to and from Globe Life Field on Saturday is included in registration.)

Build your registration

Choose individual registrations, or a family package plus any extra children. The Rangers game, trolley and ballpark buffet are included in every registration. Prices are being finalized from the hotel’s catering contract and the Globe Life Field group package, and will be posted here.

Who is coming, and anything we should know

Registering adds the family members in your household to the family directory at the same time — one set of questions, not two. Anyone you mark as a Guest is listed with your registration only.

Paying

Pay in full, or spread your balance across six monthly payments. Your card is charged automatically each month, you get a receipt every time, and you can clear the balance early whenever you like. Payment instructions come back with your confirmation.

Deadlines — and you can change your mind until then

Add activities or drop them any time before the deadline for that activity. After it, we are locked in with the vendor and so are you.

The Weekend

Our home base is the Hilton Arlington, a five-minute trolley ride from Globe Life Field. Everyone marks the times the whole family is together.

Sign Up & Compete

This year the whole weekend is spent together. Friday is the Welcome Reception & Dinner at the Hilton, Saturday the whole family heads to Globe Life Field for the Rangers game, and Sunday we worship together before we go. The full timetable is on the Weekend page, and you register on Register & Build Your Weekend.

Remember where we come from

Our name is on this marker

Whatever you choose on Saturday, we gather because of the people named here. The 2018 Texas Historical Marker for the Monte Verdi Family Slaves lists Bowens among the families who descend from those who lived and labored at Monte Verdi.

Read the Monte Verdi story →

Everyone · all ages, no exceptions

These are for the whole family at once, from babies in arms to our oldest elders.

The Family Room · our story, on camera

Friday night · at the Welcome Reception & Dinner

🥄 GRANDMA ROBERTA’S RECIPE CHALLENGE

“Same roots. Different kitchens. May the best plate win.”

Every branch of this family learned to cook in a different kitchen — but it ALL started in Grandma Roberta’s. So here’s the challenge, family: one of her treasured recipes, your hands, your kitchen, your best shot. Who makes it like Roberta made it? Who makes it even better? (Careful — the elders are listening.)

This reunion’s recipe

Grandma Roberta’s [RECIPE NAME]

Coming soon. The family is choosing the recipe now. When it’s revealed, the full recipe — ingredients, steps and the story behind it — goes right here for every cook to download.

Three sets of judges. Two awards.

👨‍🍳

The Hotel ChefOur host hotel’s chef scores every plate like a pro: taste, texture, technique, presentation and overall execution.

👵🏾

The Elders’ TableTwo or three of our elders who remember Grandma Roberta’s cooking ask one question: “Which one takes me back?”

🍽️

The People’s PlateEvery adult at the Welcome Dinner gets one voting token. Taste the finalists, drop your token, crown the People’s Choice.

🥄

THE GOLDEN SPOON

The big one. A traveling trophy with the winner’s name and year engraved on it. The Golden Spoon comes back to every Bowens reunion, to be defended by the champion and chased by the next generation. Your name, on that spoon, for as long as this family gathers.

How the day goes

When	What happens
Before the reunion	The recipe is revealed here. Sign up, practice, perfect it — and bring your best version to Dallas.
Friday, before dinner	Entries come in and get a number, not a name. This is blind judging — nobody at the judges’ table knows whose plate is whose.
Friday, Welcome Dinner	The Chef and the Elders’ Table taste and score every numbered plate. Samples of the three finalists go to the tables, and every adult drops one token for the People’s Plate.
Friday, after dinner	On stage: the names are revealed, the People’s Choice Award is announced, and the Golden Spoon is presented to this reunion’s champion!

No charge to enter. Enter solo or cook as a team. And every reunion after this one, we pick another recipe and honor another cook — until those recipes become the Bowens Family Heritage Cookbook.

Enter the challenge

Cook’s full name

Email or cell phone

Your branch — which child of Arthur & Roberta?Choose…Dan Erwin BowensBernice M. BowensBooker T. BowensCicero B. BowensHorace “Sam” BowensClarence “Scooter” BowensBessie May “Chicken” BowensThessalonia “Dank” BowensRomeo Travis “R.T.” BowensEdward “Eddie” BowensMary Lois BowensDorothy Earlene Bowens

Cooking solo or as a team?

Anything in your dish tasters should know about? (nuts, dairy, gluten…)

I’m in the kitchen — sign me up!

Our youngest

Hotel & Travel

Host Hotel

Hilton Arlington

2401 East Lamar Boulevard, Arlington, Texas 76006 · (817) 640-3322

Our home base in the Arlington Entertainment District, minutes from Globe Life Field. Friday’s Welcome Reception & Dinner, the Recipe Challenge, the Family Feud and the Soul Train Dress-Up Party, THE FAMILY ROOM, Saturday breakfast and Sunday worship all happen here.

Where to find us

Luggage storage opens Thursday at 9:00 AM. Family Reunion check-in and the hospitality room open Friday at 3:00 PM.

Flying

DFW International (DFW) is the closer airport — roughly 15 to 20 minutes from the hotel, with nonstop flights from most of the country. American Airlines hubs there.

Dallas Love Field (DAL) is roughly 25 to 30 minutes away. Southwest flies there from most of the country. Ask the hotel when you book about airport transportation; otherwise plan on a rideshare or taxi. If we secure a group airline discount code, we’ll post it here.

Driving

The hotel sits at Lamar Boulevard and Highway 360 in Arlington, next to Six Flags Over Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth just off I-30. Parking is on site.

Getting to Globe Life Field

Saturday’s game is a quick five-minute ride up the street. We ride the Arlington Trolley there and back together, and it’s included in your registration — no driving, no parking, no hunting for family in a giant lot. We’re confirming the trolley’s game-day schedule and capacity for a group our size with the Hilton.

FAQ’s

Contact

Questions about registration, the hotel, payments, activities, transportation, meals, children or accessibility — send them our way and the answers go up on the Questions page so the whole family benefits.