Owning her business provides time to give back to community

Jan Voiles

For Aimee Bowles of Rush County balancing her family, business and volunteering in her community is a challenge she enjoys.

“I’m not a sit down person,” she understated, as her list of activities shows. “I’m not a stay at home type person. We’re always on the go somewhere.”

She is wife to husband Chad Bowles and mother to 8-year-old Spencer, 2-year-old Nicholas and 1-year-old Alexis.

She also is the owner-operator of Aimee’s Beauty Boutique, 934 W. Third Street, Rushville.

She studied hair styling in vocational school while in high school. After graduating from Rushville Consolidated High School in 1991 she passed the state boards and worked two years in a local shop. Then she decided it was time to have her own business.

Keeping her customers happy is her goal.

“I’m a true believer that happy, satisfied customers are the best advertising,” she remarked.

She cited several advantages of owning one’s own business.

“Having your own business is good, especially if you have kids. Spencer gets off the school bus here and I can bring Nicholas and Alexis with me if I need to,” she commented. “You can make your own hours. I can volunteer at school.”

Lorie Denzler has worked for Aimee for 11 years. She also participates in some of Aimee’s volunteer activities.

One aspect of the volunteering Aimee makes time for is the Rush County Wig Bank, a service through the American Cancer Society.

“I have 50 to 60 wigs on hand,” Bowles said. “When they (cancer patients) are here I ask them if they need any other services and I always put their name in to ACS. They’ll give them a call or send out a cancer packet that gives them all the information they need.”

Any woman who has experienced hair loss as the result of chemotherapy is welcome to contact her for an appointment to select a wig at no charge.

Aimee, Lorie and Kim Hutchinson are active in the ACS’s Look Good, Feel Better program, which meets every three months at Rush Memorial Hospital in the cancer center. Two hour sessions help the cancer patient with makeup and other appearance needs. The makeup kit is provided through ACS. Preregistration is required through the Sheehan Cancer Center.

Bowles also volunteers through the ACS with the Reach to Recovery program. As a six-year survivor of breast cancer, she knows first hand the need for support and encouragement such as is provided by this program. She is one of about 17,000 volunteers nationally. The program matches survivors with newly diagnosed patients. Contact is made by telephone, then home visits can be scheduled or questions answered by phone conversations.

Aimee has been actively involved in the local Relay for Life in the past.

“I wanted to return the favors I got when I was going through treatment,” she explained, adding, “I’m always big on research and that’s where the funds go.”

Another cause needing her as a volunteer arose after the tragic death of her 8-year-old nephew Alex Workman in a snowmobile accident. After the accident which claimed the life of her sister Angela Workman’s and her husband Rob’s son, about a dozen volunteers started the Walk for Alex.

“The money is going into a Community Foundation memorial fund,” Bowles noted. “It’s going to help autistic children in Rush County. So the money that we raise for that will be given out to kids of school age, for kids that can’t afford certain things. If they need certain tools or horse camp, or whatever they need in the summertime. They need structure and when they don’t go to school they tend to fall back. It keeps his name alive and creates more awareness of autism.”

Even with having a family and volunteering, Aimee still finds time for other activities. She likes to walk, and in the summer to take her children swimming. Her husband Chad has had Bowles Construction for 18 years and together they’ve owned Spencer’s Workwear for six years.

The daughter of Dennis and Tena Rhodes, Aimee attends Plum Creek Christian Church.



Jan Voiles can be contacted at jan.voiles@rushvillerepublican.com or at (765) 932-2222 ext. 107. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.

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