Linda Bowles Committed Suicide

The Paradise Post ^ | May 15, 2003 | Rick Silva

[SlickWillard]

Linda Bowles.
Photo courtesy of worldnetdaily.com

By Rick Silva - Managing editor

Nationally-syndicated columnist Linda Bowles died April 30 at Merced-area hospital after she committed suicide, the Paradise Post learned yesterday.

No memorial service will be held out of respect for her final wishes.

Bowles, 51, whose column appeared in the Chico Enterprise-Record, the Houston Post, Washington Times, Chicago Tribune, Arkansas Democ-rat-Gazette and WorldNetDaily.com, reportedly never recovered from the loss of her husband Warren. She also appeared on and was a frequent guest host for Liveline with Bruce Ses-sions show on KPAY.

In a statement released by her only daughter Mi-chelle Bowles early Wednes-day night she said, "The coroner's re-port will tell you she purposely overdosed on antidepressants. The reality is she died due to complications of the heart."

"To say she had a weak or failed heart would be untrue," the statement continued. "To say she suffered from a broken heart would be an understatement."

John Arguelles, a deputy in the Merced County Coroners office said Bowles' death is still under investigation.

"We haven't completed our investigation and we haven't ruled on the manner of death," Arguelles said.

County officials say that toxicology reports will come back in four weeks.

Her death comes nearly a year after her husband, Warren, died of an inoperable brain tumor. The illness forced Bowles to discontinue her column for Creative Syndicate on Feb. 25, 2002.

In her column that appeared on WorldNetDaily she told readers "This may very well be the last column I will write … I can't see beyond the battle to the future."

Joseph Farah, the CEO and editor of WorldNetDaily, said yesterday Bowles' death was a loss and she never recovered from the death of her husband on May 31 of last year.

"She told me she couldn't live without him," he said. "I kept telling her that she could, just one day at a time. She was devastated by her loss and, frankly, never recovered emotionally from it."

Farah met Bowles when she was a columnist for the Sacramento Union.

"Linda Bowles was an unusually gifted writer," he said. "She had a way of reaching deep into people's souls with her use of the language. It was our honor at WorldNetDaily to carry her column until the day she suspended it due to the death of her husband."

Former Butte County Sheriff Scott MacKenzie said he met Bowles once at a political function and was impressed by her.

"She seemed to be a straight-forward, very sincere person," he said "who was an honest individual and who wrote exactly what she believed."

He called Bowles' death a "real tragedy and a real loss to those who read it and was a good conservative?"

Republican Assemblyman Rick Keene, who represents the Ridge, met with Bowles a few times for dinner and saw her give a couple of speeches.

"Every time she spoke, she spoke about how special her husband was," Keene said. "She adored him. It's very sad to hear and she was gracious person."

Keene said her columns were good for the political debate in the country.

"She stimulated good debate, pulling no punches and that is rare in this day and age," he said.

The company that syndicated her column to papers like Enterprise-Record, Creative Syndicate Inc., didn't know about Bowles' death until a reporter called Wednesday morning asking about it. No one at Creative Syndicate Inc had any comment yesterday.

Her columns also appeared at TownHall.com and for the Conservative Chronicle. A secretary for the Conservative Chronicle said she was unaware of Bowles' death, but had no further comment and TownHall didn't return phone calls yesterday.

Bowles began her writing career through a weekly political column in California's Mariposa Guide. This opened the door for a regular column in the now-defunct Sacramento Union n where Farah was an editor.

She also wrote, various self-syndicated and freelance articles for newspapers across the country until she met Creative Syndicate's Rick 051, through Farah. That led to that company's decision to offer her a"syndicate contract," which Farah said was "very unusual for a practically unknown writer."

She was known to enjoy irritating liberals, telling Townhall.com that "I believe a large audience awaits a good, thorough whacking of left-wing icons and ideology, done with parody and satire."

"To me, Linda was not only a gifted writer," Farah said. "She was my friend — a valued friend. I am feeling the loss today.""

RSilva@paradisepost.com

[savedbygrace]

I remember reading her column many years ago in which she wrote about the death of her father. I recall thinking that she was so deeply depressed by his death that it was downright scary.

Maybe her reaction to her husband's death was amplified by that experience.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Nationally syndicated columnist dies - May 15, 2003

How nice of you to change the title of the article. Very thoughtful.

[CyberCowboy777]

Rest in Peace Linda

I read her often when I lived in Chico, CA.

[goodnesswins]

Oh...how sad...I remember now reading her last column about her husband's illness.....what a loss.

[Howlin]

:-)

I'm slow this morning.

[sinkspur]

if her husband was her only reason for living then she was, indeed, a sad person. All the lonely people.

Since you've had the same experience, thanks for the wisdom.

Never live in another person's shadow.

[cgk]

Damn damn and damn.

We've lost a GREAT writer, a GREAT woman.

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The Man I Love (Columnist Linda Linda Bowles Pays Tribute To Her Dying Husband, Writes Final Column)

Political calculus: Linda Bowles denounces Daschle's agenda to demonize Republicans

Time for outrage! Linda Bowles reports latest results in America's public schools

A reason to live, a reason to die: Linda Bowles explains why Democrats are scared of tax cuts

Decision time: Linda Bowles asks: Is human life a gift or a commodity?

Badgering Bush on global warming: Linda Bowles points to flaws in media coverage

Don't forget Waco: Linda Bowles ties OKC bombing to Reno's flub in Texas

Linda Bowles: Clinton's apology (FreeRepublic Mentioned)

9-headed Caesar: Linda Bowles hammers Supreme Court over partial-birth abortion

Dawn beyond life's sunset clause: Linda Bowles looks at Mort Kondrake's love for ailing wife Milly

Border blowback: Linda Bowles details dangerous U.S. immigration policies

Rest in Peace, Linda. You will be sorely missed, but we cannot be so selfish as to deny you your peace from your pain.

[GOP_1900AD]

Incredibly sad and yet instructive to us all. Even Bible believing Christians can succumb to the dark forces of doubt and loss of ability to confront the future. It is particularly difficult in these times, with the vast majority of society having lost its Judeo-Christian underpinnings. The "system" is one of secular humanism, ahistorical "analysis," and rebellion against futurity. Anti depressants should be banned or vastly reduced in usage as they are an huge mechanism by which the forces of societal atomization undermine particularly children but even as we see here adults.

[RooRoobird14]

Sadly, even a committed Catholic may commit suicide if they are deep enough in the tunnel vision of suicidal despair. I worked with a fine Catholic man who died a horrible, lingering death from stomach cancer. His widow became deeply depressed, and about a year after his death she took her own life (ran the car engine in a closed garage, etc.) What a horrible, sad story. She left behind six children, the youngest of which was seven years old.

My step-father-in-law took his life at age 76 (devout Catholic man). He was one of these "strong & silent" types, a WWII flying ace with 94 successful missions over Nazi Germany. We knew he had seemed worried about his business, but there were no telltale warnings anyone could think of in retrospect, no matter how much we racked our brains for previously missed clues. Father-in-law didn't leave a note, so we'll never really know what he was thinking when committed suicide.

[newgeezer]

How sad. Her column for Thanksgiving, 2001 included this:

Give thanks. There is a light that overcomes this dread, dead-ended darkness. There is a Creator who will find those who seek Him and lead them to it.

My personal statement remains the same, year after year: If I could identify just two things for which to be thankful, I would choose first to be thankful for amnesty, that is, forgiveness for all those accumulations of sin and error which could otherwise weigh us down and steal away our freedom of spirit and enthusiasm for life. Second, I would give thanks for the promise that one day you and I will see His face.

I hope she knows our Savior as her own.

[sinkspur]

Anti depressants should be banned or vastly reduced in usage as they are an huge mechanism by which the forces of societal atomization undermine particularly children but even as we see here adults.

Utter nonsense.

You'd be seeing ten times the number of suicides without anti-depressive medication.

Anybody who uses "societal atomization" ought to have the sense to leave mental health to the professionals.

[GOP_1900AD]

This might seem somewhat corny, but I remember reading about her loss a couple of years ago and thinking to myself "I ought to contact her by phone" etc. I never knew her personally other than email. I must confess now that I never followed through on the above train of thought and now greatly regret it. I have no illusions regarding what I or anyone else "could" have done here, but still... God Bless.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

How sad. Linda was a remarkably intelligent and articulate woman gifted with keen insight. I loved to hear her speak with that beautiful southern style. She is a great loss to our cause. Rest in peace, Mrs. Bowles.

[OneVike]

Linda Bowles was a very good conservative, I find this very hard to take as fact. I find it especially disheartening that it took 15 days after her death to find out she died. I live in Chico Ca. about 20 from Paradise and she was a close friend of Bruce Sessions and used be on his radio show very often. God bless her family, she will be missed.

[Hildy]

Please don't say that. Anti-depressants changed my mother's life. My only regret was that I waited until she was 74 to finally insist she take them. I saw a negative, unhappy woman finally achieve some peace and contentment. Is it a false personality? Who the hell cares. All I know is that I found the woman I knew my mother once was.

[OneVike]

Looks like the editor was snoozing. ;-)

The Paradise Post is very liberal and the Editor let it be known that he had very little respect for her opinion. So I can see him letting this story get printed without even worring about it being edited properly.

[GunRunner]

Anti depressants should be banned or vastly reduced in usage.

Crude words for someone who has never needed them.

[sinkspur]

I didn't say it. belmont_mark said it, and I was scolding him.

Anti-depressants are Godsends.

[cgk]

No Distinction Between Good, Evil?

As a tribute, I just posted one of my favorite Linda Bowles' articles that never made it to FR.

[jlogajan]

Anti-depressants are Godsends.

I read something about a half-year back that said in studies that anti-depressants were only about as effective as placebos.