St. Charles woman ready to move on

If Annshirley Bowie told friends and neighbors recently that the controversy she endured over trying to sell her St. Charles home on South Seventh Street broke her heart, she apparently wasn't exaggerating.

The 68-year-old widow spent the holiday season packing boxes at her west-side home, a stunning Victorian-style house built in the 1890s and fondly known by children in the 1960s as "The Munster Mansion."

She was packing to move to Medina, Ohio, to live with her son Tony Myles, who is a pastor in that community, and felt she had to turn over the sale of her home to local relatives because she recently encountered heart problems and was scheduled for future surgery in Cleveland.

"I never had heart problems before this," Bowie said of the clash that occurred between her and the St. Charles Historic Preservation Commission, which wanted to landmark the home to thwart a developer's plan to purchase the building, level it and build three to four new homes on that corner of Seventh and Prairie streets.

Commission chairman Steven Smunt, a neighbor of Bowie's, backed off the preservation attempt in September, saying the public outcry in favor of Bowie having the right to sell the home was damaging public perception of historic preservation efforts.

But a month ago, the developer pulled his plans off the table and Bowie was left to try to sell her home in a downtrodden real estate market.

"Well, it's not going to get torn down now," Bowie said of the ironic turn of events.

She was hopeful that a couple who had been looking at the home and had a desire to restore it were close to making an offer on it.

"I have to do something soon about my heart problem," Bowie said of her decision to move in with her son. "There were a lot of nightmares involving this, as one thing after another came up."

In addition to her health problems and the difficult housing market, Bowie also realized it was time to move on and leave memories behind.

"December 16th was a tough day for me," Bowie said. "That was my late husband's birthday and it was very difficult. And I really missed him on Christmas Day this year."

Thomas Shelton Bowie, who died in July, would have been 77.

Bowie expressed gratitude to everyone who helped her during the public debate that took place regarding her home.

"I want to thank the people of St. Charles who supported me during this, and thank them for their prayers and encouragement," Bowie said. "And I had some very nice people come onto the property here and help clean it up and cut down shrubs (as the home went up for sale)."

Bowie wanted one other thing made clear for the record before she leaves St. Charles.

"My name is Annshirley Bowie. My twin sister is Shirleyann, and people get it mixed up all of the time. I can't tell you how many times I have been called Shirleyann," she said with a laugh.