Emma Delta Bowman was born on April 21, 1904 to Oscar and Nora (McFeely) Bowman of Turtle Creek, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. At the time of the 1920 Federal Census, she was "Delta," age 15. Her siblings were Zita, Clyde, Alma, Cyril, and Sylvia.

By 1930, Emma D. Bowman was nurse and lived with her parents in Turtle Creek, along with her Grandmother McFeely, and siblings, Clyde, Alma, Cyril and Sylvia.

Emma Delta Bowman married Emil W. Lersch, son of Emil and Valeriat Lersch, and they are found in the 1940 census of Brownsville, Escambia County, Florida. The record indicates they had lived in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in 1935. Emil, 39, was an "airplane instrument maker" at the Navy Yard. The children are listed as Alfred, 17, who must be from a previous marriage, and David, 8 and Valeria, 6. Emil also had a older son, Emil W. Lersch, Jr., who stayed in Pittsburgh and married in 1939. He was living in Penn Hills when he died in 2008.

Emma Delta Bowman Lersch died October 1965 in Escambia County, Florida.

The two children of Emma were Valeria and David. Valeria married a Navy officer, Arthur Dubois. She died in 2009. Her brother, David, died in 2002.