2023 Legacy Missionaries: On the Cutting Room Floor #3-Ruth Bowman

While in the process of opening a hospital in Honduras, pregnant women often asked Bobby Bowman to deliver their babies there even before it was ready. Compared to the conditions under which most women had to give birth, it was at least clean and sterile, so medical staff agreed to do so.

One of those mothers arrived at the hospital one day with labor pains and said to Bowman, “I have a story to tell you, doctor. The baby I had before this one died because I wasn’t able to take care of him and give him enough nutrition. I can’t provide for this baby either, so can you take it and raise it?”

Obviously a shocking question for him since Bobby was 48, and Ruth was 50, he told her he would have to consult with his wife. The girl’s pains had stopped, so  she left to stay with a friend nearby until labor began again.  

Four days later she returned, this time in active labor, and Bobby delivered the baby, a boy, on June 1, 1984. It was a date Ruth and Bobby would never forget. 

“It was love at first sight,” Ruth said. “Bobby knew my answer without having to ask. Tommy was a wonderful child to us, obedient and good.” Today Tommy Bowman owns a catering business in Arkansas. He and his wife and children live not far from Ruth and Bobby.