Opha Ola Richardson Bowman
Opha Ola Richardson was born September 24, 1898, at Red Stripe, Franklin Township, Stone County, Arkansas.
Her parents were Elias A. Richardson and Ida Blanche Walters. Elias and Ida had 7 children. Elias was married 5 times and had 21 children.
The 1910 Coleman County Census indicates that Elias had moved his family to Talpa, Coleman County, Texas. During the trip, Opha contracted Rheumatic Fever and was taken in by a family member of Ida Bkanche in Joshua, Texas. After almost a year, she joined her family in Talpa. The circumstances are unknown at this time, but on May 15, 1913, her mother, Ida Blanche, died and she is buried at Shiloh Cemetery, Slaughterville, Cleveland County, Oklahoma. It is unknown if she died in Texas or Oklahoma.
While in Talpa, Opha met and married Lonnie A. Bowman, who was working for the Santa Fe Railroad. Lonnie’s brother, Henry Carroll, was the local Methodist preacher. Opha, at the age of 15, and Lonnie were married 22 Jul 1914. Two children were born of the union: Glenn Carroll and L. B.. Lonnie died in 1922 while working in Houston, Texas. In 1923, Opha married Lonnie’s brother John Mervyn. Opha and J. M. had 5 children: Charles Mervyn, LaVelle, LaVerne, James Weldon, and Preston Lee. She was a homemaker, an assistant to a medical doctor and a seamstress.
Opha Ola Richardson Bowman died January 9, 1980.
