April 17 will never be just another ordinary day for the Bland family. This day will be remembered as the day our earthly angel, Catherine Polly Bland McCowan, went home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The oldest daughter of the late Ida Mariah Clark and Charlie Bland was born on March 30, 1921. She was the first born of ten siblings. She graduated from Fluvanna County's first black high school, S. C. Abrams. Catherine McCowan graduated from St. Paul's College and Virginia State University where she received her Bachelors of Arts degree. She was born to teach.

For almost 40 years, Catherine McCowan's name became synonymous with Fluvanna's education system. She needed no classroom; just a student. It is pretty safe to say that she taught most of the grandparents and parents of the current students attending Fluvanna County schools today. Education was her life and her love and she proved it relentlessly every day.

She taught in a one room school in Wildwood, then on to Rockcrest Central, Cunningham Elementary and Fork Union Elementary School where she retired from. Even after her retirement, Catherine continued tutoring and educating young children. She loved giving them educational supplies like notebooks, pencils, rulers, markers and paper. Many of her students have become prominent citizens in the community and surrounding counties. With all her heart, she knew that no child should be considered "unteachable". She once said "if ever a teacher should consider a student unable to learn, then they themselves should stop teaching."

Catherine McCowan was an energetic, vibrant, motivating, dedicated, committed and inspiring member of the Byrd Grove Baptist Church as well as the Fluvanna community. Catherine was overwhelmingly concerned about the well-being of others, and especially the young children and their learning about God and His goodness. She was very active in various committees and organizations like the Slate River Association, the Baptist General Convention, Byrd Grove Sunday School, Missionary Circle, and Senior Choir. She was also involved in organizations like the Fluvanna Education Association, JABA, and Fluvanna NAACP.

Catherine McCowan was preceded in death by her loving husband of 60 years, Allen McCowan; her mother, Ida Clark Bland; her father, Charlie Bland and four loving brothers, Theodore, Samuel, Lynn, and Phillip Bland.

She leaves to cherish her memory two sisters, Alease Bland Cousins, Columbia, VA and Ruth Bland Megginson, Gordonsville, VA; three brothers, James Bland, Palmyra, VA, Presley Bland, Columbia, VA, Shakespeare Bland, Culpeper, VA; one brother-in-law, Kenneth Cousins, Sr. of Columbia, VA; two sisters-in-law, Lucy Bland, New Canton, VA and Gracie Bland, Troy, VA; two special devoted nephews, Robert E. Megginson of Northern, VA and Kenneth Cousins, Jr.

With seven brothers and two sisters, she was adorned with many nieces and nephews. Those loved ones provided her with even greater love through numerous great-nieces and nephews and cousins. She was never without love.

Funeral services will be held at the Byrd Grove Baptist Church in Kents Store, Virginia, shepherded by the Reverend Price L. Davis, on Tuesday, April 24, at 12:00 pm. There will be no wake or repast, but the body will be available for viewing from noon until 7 p.m. Monday, April 23, 2012 at the Thomasson Watson Chapel in Fork Union, VA and on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 from 10:30 a.m. until the hour of the service at the church.