Eugenia Bovard

    Eugenia “Genie” Ouren (Ulvestad) Bovard, 84, died June 11, 2011 at home in Clear Lake. 
   Family will greet friends from 1 – 4 p.m. Saturday, June 18, at Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. 4th St., Clear Lake.  A time for sharing memories and of celebrating her life will be offered at 3:30 p.m. Gifts or memorial donations may be sent to the Mason City Humane Society, Clear Lake Library, or the Clear Lake Art Center.

     Genie was born Oct. 21, 1926 in Minneapolis, Minn. She was the daughter and only child of Selma Ouren and Edwin Eugene Ulvestad.  Her mother was one of the first graduates of the University of Minnesota school of nursing in 1912, and her father was a dentist.  The family lived in Chicago during the depression years where Eugenia attended school for all but her final year of high school when they moved back to Minneapolis.  She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1948 with a degree in dental hygiene and a minor in art.  She was a talented painter and sculptress, studied French, and was also an accomplished pianist.  After college she traveled with a government dental program caring for poor children in the southern states for a year.  In 1951 she married Gilbert Klemme Bovard whom she had met on a blind date on the 4th of July, 1946 while attending the U. of M.  Their first date was by trolley to the Excelsior Park in Minnetonka, Minn. They lived in Iowa City, Iowa while he finished law school, and then moved to Mason City, Iowa where they raised four children and enjoyed many wonderful friends and colleagues.  Gil and Genie moved full time to their “cottage” on Clear Lake in the late 1990’s.  They would have been married 60 years this Aug. 11, 2011.
     Genie was a loving mother, a devoted wife, a dear friend, and one of the most tender-hearted people who walked the earth.  She participated in charity work, helped local immigrant children in a learn to read program, worked at the MacNider Art Museum and the Clear Lake Art Center, and played glockenspiel in the New Horizon (Meredith Wilson) Community Band.  Genie was of 100 percent Norwegian heritage and of the Unitarian faith.  She enjoyed traveling and had memorable sojourns to Paris, Florence, Montreal, and Quebec City over the years.  She could have been any number of things, but best of all she was a good, old-fashioned mom who met her children at the door when they returned from school and supported her husband in his work. She will be missed dearly, but her exemplary goodness, generosity of spirit, and caring heart will live on in her family and friends.  
     She was preceded in death by her parents; and dear friends, Chuck and Joyce Swift, during this past year.  She is survived by her loving husband, Gilbert; her daughter, Sally (Bovard) and husband Joe Tye of Solon, Iowa and their children, Annie and Douglas; her three sons: Ralph Bovard and his wife, Marnie Wells of Minneapolis, Minn.; Douglas Bovard and his wife, Victoria (Morgan) of Madison, Ala.; and Scott Bovard and his wife, Laura (Tollefson) of Missoula, Mont. and their children, Gillian and Andrew (currently at West Point).