Barbara Allison Bowles Extine 1962-2026

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — 

Barbara Allison Bowles Extine (63) of Vicksburg, MS passed June 24, 2026 peacefully at Community Place Nursing Home in Brandon, MS.  Barbara was a 30-year resident of Vicksburg, MS and was a member of the Redbone United Methodist Church until it closed in 2024.  More recently, she attended Porters ChapelCongregational Methodist Church.  She was born in Natchez, Mississippi on October 19, 1962.  Barbara graduated from South Natchez Adams High School in 1980 and went on to graduate from University of South Mississippi with a B.S. in Geology.  She also completed the coursework for a Master’s Degree at Millsaps College. 

Early in her life when she was 5 years old, Barbara was stricken with leukemia. She became a patient at St. Judes Hospital in Memphis and was one of the first patients to take part in a revolutionary treatment regime at the time and was actually deemed cured in 1968.  However, the treatment Barbara endured also involved radiation which is believed to have caused bladder and brain cancers that she later endured.  There is an interesting article in the July 2016 Smithsonian Magazine that describes Barbara’s historic, brave journey.  Despite Barbara’s medical challenges, she was a very accomplished person and loved by friends and family. 

Barbara eventually went to work at the Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, MS. in 1994 as a contract employee.  She retired in 2014.  She was an active member of the church in Redbone and an avid gardener.  She had many friends in the area and was loved and cared for by them. 

Barbara is preceded in death by her father Robert E. Bowles (2016) and mother Eva Cecil Batman Bowles(2000).  She is also preceded in death by her husband, Roy Extine (2025) and her brother, Richard Paul Bowles (2026).  She is survived by her brother Robert Bowles (Gwen) and nephews Galen Bowles, Daniel Bowles, and Matthew Bowles.  She is also survived by one grand-nephew, Grayson Bowles and one grand-niece, Marley Bowles.

Services will be announced at a later date.