Wilma Genevra Rowe

Wilma Genevra Rowe passed away peacefully at her home, surrounded by family, on February 2nd, 2025.

Wilma’s remarkable life started on September 6, 1929 in Darlington, PA. Her parents were Rhoda Susanna McChesney Duff and William J. Duff. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Balph Coulter, brother Stanley Duff, and sister Rhoda Clark.

She is survived by her husband, J. Otis Rowe, son Robert McChesney Rowe, daughter Lucinda Rowe Bentley, daughter Christine Rowe Miller, daughter Mary Rachel (Rowe)Yu, and son Daniel Garver Rowe. Wilma is also survived by her ten grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren.

Wilma graduated from high school in New Castle, PA (1947), and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education at Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA in 1951.

Upon graduation from college, Wilma embarked, with other missionaries, on a freighter bound for Egypt. Her calling was to serve under the Presbyterian Church as a teacher of missionary children at Schutz School, in Assiut, Egypt. She was quickly enfolded into the mission family there, and was dearly loved by her many students.

While in Egypt she met a handsome young farm boy from Ohio! They discovered they had grown up only 16 miles from each other. J. Otis Rowe was in Egypt serving on an agricultural project with Brethren Voluntary Service. Wilma and Otis married in Assiut on October 23, 1954.

Wilma and Otis continued their lives of mission service in Cameroon, West Africa, from 1960-1978. They then worked in Malawi, South Eastern Africa, from 1979 – 1995. 

Wilma was a teacher to the core. She taught in many different capacities. She taught Bible, elementary, secondary, special education, English, and even home-schooled some of her 5 children.

When Wilma wasn’t teaching, she was serving in other ways. Some of the ways she served include a toy outreach to hospitalized children, clubs for disabled children, literacy tutoring, women’s Bible study groups, children’s Bible clubs, and even feeding zoo animals.

After retirement Wilma and Otis lived in New Wilmington, PA and Columbus, NC. 

In later years, Wilma and Otis lived at Penney Farms Retirement Community in Penney Farms, FL. During her years there, she continued serving her neighbors in many different ways. She was involved in writing groups, knitting for charity causes, serving dinner in the Assisted Living dining room, leading hymns in the memory care unit, gardening, peace and justice endeavors, as well as deep commitment and involvement with Penney Memorial Church. 

Throughout her life, Wilma was a dedicated writer of poetry, prose and biography. Her many letters home, collected by her mother, were compiled into several memoirs which are treasured by family and friends. She published a book at age 94. Letters from Egypt, by Wilma Duff Rowe, was one of her proudest life accomplishments!

Wilma was dearly beloved by family, friends, pupils (who called her “Miss Duff”), mission colleagues, missionary children (who called her “Aunt Wilma “), college friends (who called her “Duffy”), and most of all, by her 5 children, to whom she was “Mom”. She is now resting in Peace.

A Celebration of Life service for Wilma will be held at Penney Memorial Church at a later date.