Well known poet and songwriter Doris Bowie was born in Floyd County in 1921. Her family moved to Porterdale when she was 18 months old and to Covington at age seven. After graduating from Covington High School, she worked at the Covington Shirt Factory and earned 23 and half cents an hour.

"The employees were paid by piece work so the harder I worked, the more money I made," she said.

Bowie proclaims that the love of her life is Jesus Christ.

"I love him dearer than anything in the world, and then my children and grandchildren," she said. "I am proud of them because they have never given me one minute's trouble."

Bowie has two children: Jack Mitchell and Linda Allen, and three grandchildren; eight great grandchildren; and one great-great grandchild.

Bowie said she has learned to be kind and to love everyone.

"When God puts his love down in your heart, you love everybody - it makes no difference what race, what color, or what nationality," she said.

Bowie began attending Julia Porter United Methodist Church when she was four years old and joined the Methodist church in Covington at age 17. Currently, Bowie is a member of The Voice of Pentecost on Salem Road.

"In 1947, God got a hold of my heart and filled me with the Holy Ghost," she said. "The only time I have ever missed a service was because of sickness."

Over the years, Bowie has served as Sunday school teacher for the beginners, juniors and teenagers; ladies auxiliary leader; youth leader; song writer and singer.

"The Lord gave me my first song six months after I got the Holy Ghost," she said. "I got up from praying and the Lord just filled my heart with a song."

Bowie is the recipient of many Pastors' Awards including a certificate for reading the Bible through fifteen times.

"When I get up every morning, I read the Bible for an hour," she said.

Bowie has composed 111 songs and has written an album of poems.

"When God gave me a song, he just dropped it down in my heart - every bit of it and I never wrote it down until I learned it," she said. "The tune came with it. Usually it was after some dark trial that I had."

Three of Bowie's songs that were recorded by other artists include "Grace to Stand," "Under the Shadow of His Wings" and "Let Me Feel Your Spirit One More Time." The later was copyrighted and recorded by the Sego Family.

"Every time it was played on the radio, I got a check for it," she said.

Bowie remembers the moment when she was inspired to write

"Under the Shadow of His Wings."

"Brother J.T. Payne was preaching one Sunday night on Psalm 17:8 and the words to the song began to pour in my heart," she said. "When I got home, I sang it until I went to sleep. The next day when I got home from work, I wrote it down after I had sung it all day."

Bowie writes poems for special occasions and is featured in six anthologies including "How Things Have Changed," published in "Our Best Poems of 1997" by the National Library of Poetry.

"When I feel like telling someone my thoughts and admiration of them, I write it in a poem," she said. "It may be a birthday or a trip we shared or just a loved one or friend for a special occasion."

Her favorite poem is "Can We Say." The last lines reflect her belief and desire, "there is a way and only one way that all these things we can truly say that every minute, Lord, to be yielded to you and let the Holy Ghost lead us in all we do."