On April 13, Quincy Ruth Bowlin Howell, a great-great-grandmother celebrated her 95^th birthday. Quincy was surprised by her friends and family when a party was given in her honor at LaurelWoods Assisted Living Center in Columbus, N.C.

Quincy has been a resident of N.C. for the past nine years. She was born in northwest Florida. The Bowlin family became a part of Ripley’s Believe It or Not back in 1950 when the local newspaper published her parent’s 50^th wedding anniversary notice. The notice brought attention to the unique naming system they used for their 13 children.

Her parents, Allen and Sarah Bowlin, named their children alphabetically, starting with AB and ending with YZ, in order of their birth. Quincy Ruth, QR, was going to be her name whether she was a girl or boy. Quincy is the ninth child in the loving family of seven boys and six girls.

The siblings, all born between 1900 and 1929, are: Audie Bryant, Curtis Drew, Era Faye, Grady Hampton, Ida Jeanette, Knola Leeantha, Millard Nathan, Olivia Penelope, Quincy Ruth, Sarah Thelma, Ulysses Vinson, Wilson Xavier and Yon Zircle.

After WWII, Quincy and her husband James Howell and their two daughters, Sue Marriott of League City, Texas, and Joy Keith of Tryon, N.C., moved to Sanford, Fla. Quincy raised her family and worked at Sprague Electric, where she supervised the parts and shipping department. This gave her the opportunity to work with the Kennedy Space Center astronauts in developing parts for the space program. After retiring, she moved to Tryon to be near her daughter Joy and the family.

– Submitted by Sue Marriott and Joy Keith