Former Albany ARC Director Annette Bowling dies at age 80

ALBANY — Local advocacy champion and the long-time director of Albany ARC (Advocacy Resource Center) Annette Bowling has died.

“With great sadness, we announce the passing of Annette Bowling,” ARC Executive Director Sonny Slate said Wednesday. “The State of Georgia has lost a tremendous advocate and leader who dedicated most of her life to serving people with disabilities. We are fortunate to inherit Annette’s legacy and are challenged to carry on her good work in her honor. We will announce memorial details as they become available.”

Bowling, who retired from ARC after 40 years of service in 2014, was an ardent supporter of the needs of disabled citizens. Throughout her career, she worked as a transformative figure, turning a fledgling resource center that had an operational budget of $56,000 into an organization spanning 34 counties with more than 450 employees (more than 150 of them with disabilities) and an operating budget of $11 million.

“When Ms. Bowling took over as executive director in 1973, there were only a handful of parents taking care of their kids,” said ARC Director of Marketing and Public Relations Eddie McCarty. “As far as Albany and Southwest Georgia, there were no programs. There were no services and there was no support, but she was a visionary all of her life and she envisioned what ARC could be. Then she set about doing it.”

According to McCarty, from the beginning of her administration as an advocate for individuals with disabilities, Bowling believed that all people deserved a fair chance in life and that everyone could become a productive member of society.

Bowling believed all people, regardless of their abilities, should experience the same opportunities, rights and freedoms as inclusive members of the community, ARC officials said.

In 1978, with the help of then-Gov. George Busbee and legislators Charles Hatcher, Al Holloway and others, Bowling was awarded the first-ever line item for a nonprofit in the State of Georgia, for Project ARC.

Bowling was also an influential figure in getting House Bill 100 passed, a bill that changed the course of mental health services in Georgia by making regional Community Service Boards the responsible agents and removing state bureaucracy from the process. With the passage of HB 100, individuals and their families were able to have a direct voice and opinion in the services and support that people with disabilities would receive.

Laura Calhoun, executive director of Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center, worked with Bowling during Calhoun’s time as the development director at Albany ARC. Calhoun said that, as a boss, mentor and friend, Bowling had a tremendous impact on her.

“Annette was a force to be reckoned with when it came to advocating for Southwest Georgia, and the whole state benefited from her efforts,” Calhoun said. “Her legacy lives on in the countless individuals with behavioral health and developmental disabilities that are now learning, living and working inclusively in their communities. She used her influence to help other organizations as well. For her, it was all about collaborating, not duplicating. If it meant that the health of a community would be positively affected, Annette was willing to share her connections, flex her muscle and, if required, point that famous finger with the red nail polish to get what was needed.

“Georgia has lost a trailblazing, powerful advocate, and I am grateful for the piece of her that will always live in me.”

State Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus, remembered Bowling on Wednesday as someone who had a big heart for people with disabilities. Whenever she made a trip to a state hospital, it was not uncommon for her to bring someone back to stay at her home until they found a place of their own.

“That was the kind of person she was,” Kirk said.

Kirk, who refers to Bowling as his “other mother,” said that — when she was seen at the General Assembly — people knew she was not there for herself. He even gave her credit on Wednesday for his being in the position he is in now.

“She really took me under her wings and taught me so much about people with disabilities and politics, and here I am a senator,” Kirk said.

One thing Kirk has become well-known for is his proposed Religious Liberty Bill that Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed earlier this year. At a sit-down between Kirk and Deal following the veto, it was evident that Bowling’s reputation as a fighter was known outside of Southwest Georgia.

“I told him that Annette Bowling taught me everything I know about politics, and he grinned from ear to ear,” the Americus senator said.

Kirk said he will remember most the determination Bowling had to do the right thing, and to help those who could not help themselves. The hope, he said, is that her legacy will live on, which it likely will through the lives in Southwest Georgia she touched during her time with Albany ARC.

“I saw it over and over again throughout the years,” Kirk said.

Debbie Fulford, a past ARC president, described Bowling as a consummate lobbyist and influential tactician when it came to politics.

“If you ever asked her if she was a Democrat or Republican, her answer was always, ‘I’ll support who supports people with disabilities,’” said Fulford.

Under Bowling’s direction, the Albany ARC became recognized as one of the most cost-efficient and most successful nonprofit organizations in the state, according to ARC officials.

“Annette has won almost every statewide award available to an advocate,” said McCarty. “She will be remembered as one of the most recognizable individuals at the state legislature.”

Bowling received numerous awards throughout her career including the 1980, 1982 and 1984 ARC/GA State Community Service Award; 1983 and 1997 Albany Sertoma Club Service to Mankind Award; 1990 Georgia Rehabilitation Association Service Award; 1997 Guardian Angel Award; 2000 “Into the Future” Award from NAMI Georgia Leadership; 2000 Distinguished Service by the American Association on Mental Retardation; 2000 Martin Luther King “Dream” Award; 2001 Department of Labor Annual Friendship and Advocate of Persons with Disabilities Award; recognition as a 2008 Most Influential Georgian by Georgia Trend Magazine; 2010 Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Pathfinder Award, and in 2015 she was named one of the 100 most influential Georgians of the past 100 years by the Richard B. Russell Library at the University of Georgia.

“Annette will remain a positive influence for the Albany Advocacy Resource Center forever,” said former ARC president Rick Doherty. “She was just that kind of person.”

Bowling was 80 years old.