The Manteca Hall of Fame Class of 2007 includes Bea Bowlsby for business.

This year, the owner of Tipton’s Stationery & Gifts in downtown Manteca is being recognized as one of the Family City’s 10 Women of Influence in connection with the 10th anniversary of the annual Women’s Connection Conference sponsored by the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“I was totally surprised,” said the amiable and soft-spoken business owner about her reaction to the news that she was being honored as a person of influence in the community.

But even without being singled out for this recognition, Bowlsby has already wielded a powerful influence to an untold number of people as an astute business owner and tireless supporter of many civic causes, the latter through her three decades of involvement in the Soroptimist International of Manteca, a service club.

As the person at the helm of Tipton’s Stationery & Gifts, a role she now shares with daughter Brenda Franklin, Bowlsby has steered the business through rough and calm financial seas to celebrate its 50th anniversary last year. Indeed, the story of this family-owned business is a significant part of the living-history lesson of Manteca’s downtown business district. The store has always been located in the same corner spot at Yosemite Avenue and Maple Street and in the same building where it initially occupied just a small section. The rest of the area was occupied by other businesses. But little by little, as the others either moved or went out of business, Tipton’s opened up and tore down walls and slowly expanded. The business grew without having to move to another location.

Eventually, Bowlsby and former husband Tip persuaded the Franzias, who owned the imposing two-story corner structure, to sell them the building. That significant move made the store accessible from both Yosemite Avenue and Maple Street.

Bowlsby comes from a strong stock of Dutch parents who, like many immigrants from the old country, supported their family by running a dairy farm in Ripon. Her family also lived for a while in Hanford where her parents continued farming.

Bowlsby has called Manteca home since 1961 when Tipton’s first opened its doors. Before that, the family lived in Porterville where daughter Brenda was born. Since the hospital where her daughter was delivered was in nearby Bakersfield, “technically, she was born in Bakersfield,” said a smiling Bowlsby. Franklin was just 14 months old when the family moved to Manteca to start the business.

Son David was born in Manteca 49 years ago, just a year shy of being part of the small group that is being the toast of Doctors Hospital of Manteca as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

“He just missed by about a month of being in that little group that doctors Hospital is celebrating in its 50th anniversary,” Bowlsby said with a laugh.

David is currently the manager of the radiology department at Tracy Hospital. His wife, Tonya, is a registered nurse at Doctors Hospital Manteca working in the Emergency Room.

“That’s the medical side of my family,” noted Bowlsby.

David and Tonya’s two daughters are Lyssa who goes by Aly, and Megan, senior and freshman, respectively, at Sierra High. The family lives in Ripon.

The 10 Women of Distinction will be honored on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the Calvary Community Church on East Lathrop Road where a series of conferences will be held all day. The other women who will be recognized, along with Bowlsby, are Dorothy Indelicato, Evelyn Prouty, Rose Albano Risso, Lucille Harris, Toni Raymus, Sister Ann Venita Britto, Patty Reece, and Karen McLaughlin.