Mary Rita Hardwick was born in Pittsburgh on November 11, 1917. Her parents were Samuel B. Hardwick and Marie Rattigan, according to her Social Security record.

At the time of the 1920 Federal Census, Mary Rita, 2, lived in Pittsburgh with her parents and her sister, Laverne, age 7.

Mr. Hardwick died on December 11, 1962. His obituary states that the family had moved to Weirton, Hancock County, West Virginia in 1928, and he retired from Wheeling Steel's Steubenville, Ohio plant in 1955.

In 1940, Mary R. Hardwick was a Registered Nurse at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. She was 22 and lived in the Nurses' Dormitory. The record indicates that she had been living in Pittsburgh in 1935.

Rita Hardwick, 23, married Harold Bowman, 25, son of Edwin C. and Mary (Higgins), on February 21, 1941 at Marshall County, West Virginia. The license states that she was born in Pittsburgh and was residing in Hollidays Cove, which is near Weirton, Hancock County, West Virginia. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia and was living there at the time of the marriage.

Harold Bowman, a salesman for National Biscuit Company, was 40 years old when he died of a brain tumor on September 16, 1956. He is buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Wheeling.

According to the 2014 obituary of their daughter, Patricia Marie Bowman Murray, Harold and Rita were the parents of Patricia, Margaret, Michael and Edwin.

Mary Rita Hardwick Bowman died on August 23, 1991.