April L. Dowler
April L. Dowler, 67, of Venice, FL, formerly of Williamsport, MD, died March 7 after a 4½ year battle with ovarian cancer.
Born April 15, 1956, in Mansfield, OH, she was the daughter of the late Blaine Phillips Dowler and Phyllis Livona Bittikofer Dowler.
She is survived by her husband of 42 years, John W. League of Venice; daughter Elizabeth Chicoine and husband Manu of Sarasota, FL; son John Phillip League of Atlanta, GA; sister Marsha Vogel of Bel Air, MD; two granddaughters and numerous nieces and nephews.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister, Susan D. Wengenroth.
A graduate of Charleston (W.Va.) High School, she graduated magna cum laude from the West Virginia University School of Journalism and was a 1981 graduate of the WVU College of Law.
She practiced law in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, and served as a Family Law Master from 1994 to 2001. She later served as a Family Court mediator and Guardian ad Litem until her retirement in 2018.
During her time as Family Law Master, she helped facilitate a pilot project for mediation and parent education, along with Bonnie Kratovil, Penny Crandall and Donna Maciorowski, and worked with the West Virginia Legislature to ensure that mandatory mediation and parent education became law in domestic relations cases. She also taught at the WVU Law School for four years.
She was a member of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors, serving one term as Board President and also filled in as acting interim executive director.
Ordained as a deacon and an elder in the Presbyterian Church USA, she served in both the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church in Shepherdstown, WV, and St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Williamsport. She also served as Clerk of Session at St. Andrew. She was a member of the Venice Presbyterian Church.
She was restaurant critic “Anne Chovey” for the Herald-Mail for four years, and served as a member of the following: the Williamsport Elementary Citizens Advisory Committee, Board of Directors of Shepherdstown Library, the Family Law Masters Executive Council, the Fatality Review Committee for the State of West Virginia, the Washington County Community Organization Funding committee, and the Irvin Stewart Society at WVU.
Her loves were her family, her dogs, cooking, West Virginia University and the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team.
A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. on April 6 at the Shepherdstown [WV] Presbyterian Church. A celebration of life will immediately follow at a site to be determined.
Memorial donations may be sent to the Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown or William H. Jervey Venice Public Library.