Ariel Serena Hedges Bowen was born on March 22, 1864 in Newark, New Jersey. Her father was later the pastor at the Grace Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. She attended Avery College in PA, High School of Springfield in MA, and then earned a musical education at the New York Conservatory of Music. She then taught history, elocution and music at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and then served as a Professor of Music at Clark University in Atlanta. She was married in September 1886 to Dr. J.W.E. Bowen, the pastor of St. John M.E. Church in Newark. Mrs. Bowen moved to Atlanta in 1893. She organized the Woman’s Home Missionary Society in the Washington Conference, serving as its first president. Bowen authored several articles, entitled: “Music in the Home,” “The Ethics of Reform,” and “Home Literary Table.”She served as the Georgia States president of the WCTU No. 2s until her death on July 7, 1904. Her funeral was held in the Clark University chapel and remarks were made by Rev. Drs. G.W. Arnold, M.M. ALston, J.P. Wragg, W.H. Weaver, H.H. Proctor and W.H. Crogman.