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They still refer to themselves as the Bovee sisters.
They are proud descendants of a Powell homesteading family and graduates of Powell High School.
They are both retired school teachers, …
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They still refer to themselves as the Bovee sisters.
They are proud descendants of a Powell homesteading family and graduates of Powell High School.
They are both retired school teachers, following in the footsteps of their mother, Arlene Bovee, a Powell elementary school teacher from 1942 to 1974.
Janet Bovee Burgess now lives in Sun City Center, Florida, having moved from Estes Park, Colorado, in 2020. Her sister, Dolores Bovee Bleekman, lives in Granite Bay, California in a retirement facility called Sequois Grove.
In June of 2026, Janet flew to California to attend Dolores’ 95th birthday celebration.
Dolores was born June 7, 1931. Janet was born Sept. 19, 1932. Both girls were born on the Bovee homestead to parents Paul H. and Arlene (Kells) Bovee. The Bovee homestead northeast of Powell was settled by Paul’s parents, Daniel W. and Sadie Bovee in 1914.
Dolores and Janet graduated from Powell High School in 1949 and 1950 respectively. Both attended Hastings College in Nebraska for two years and both taught third grade in Cody for one year on special teaching certificates. Dolores went on to graduate from Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) in 1954. Janet graduated from Colorado State College of Education (now University of Northern Colorado) in 1955.
Both sisters married men whose last name started with B. Dolores married George M. Bleekman in 1952. They had 73 years together before he died in March, 2026. Janet married Robert E. Burgess in 1956. He died in July 2004.
Dolores retired from 31 years of teaching kindergarten, first, second and third grades in Fair Oaks Elementary School in Fair Oaks, California, in 1993. Janet took early retirement in 1990 from 22 years of teaching grades one through three, mostly in Estes Park, Colorado.
Both sisters have been avid travelers, taking after their “traveling mother,” Arlene. Janet has visited 45 countries. Dolores has been to 62 countries on all seven continents. They had one trip together in September of 2000 — a two-week bus tour of Ireland.
Homesteader Museum has the crepe paper dresses the sisters wore in the doll buggy parade of the Park County Fair in 1937 — 89 years ago. The dresses were made by their mother.
