Thousands Flock to Facebook to Relive Bowie Memories

Many things tie us together and make us Bowie:

• The scraping noises of hangers being placed backward in a Levitt built closet, which is the only way to hang them.
• Flood water in the air vents.
• Playing on Tommy the Turtle at the old Belair Shopping Center.
• Going to the deserted, crumbling Glen Dale Hospital to be scared.
• Referring to where you live by sections, the K-section, the B-section, the S-section, etc.

And right now thousands of us, from 20-somethings to 60-somethings, all over the country and the world, are sharing these Bowie memories in two Facebook groups—You know you're from Bowie, MD if you remember... and You know you're from Bowie when...

The “…if you remember…” Facebook page began Aug. 5 after midnight outside Nashville when Mike Steplowski was feeling homesick for Bowie. Steplowski, a 1995 graduate of Bowie High who was born and raised here, started the group by inviting a few friends. He posted it, and set it aside for a few days.

In less than a week, more than 1,000 Bowie-ites had joined and were posting. It now has 1,952 members.

“I was shocked at how quickly it grew,” said Steplowski in a telephone interview. “I wish I could claim it was my idea, but we have similar groups in Nashville, and I’ve heard about other groups across the country like this.”

Steplowski, who describes himself as a student of marketing, said people yearn for togetherness, and the groups help fill that void.

“Nostalgia is the glue that holds us together," he said. "It attracts people by giving them a chance to reflect on what they grew up with.”

One of Steplowski’s favorite postings is in the photos section, where members shared 1960s era sales brochures from the original Levitt homes. Steplowski marvels at how the brochures tout, along with wall-to-wall carpet and central air, asbestos shingles as a selling point.

“Asbestos? It’s funny, what they didn’t know then,” he said.

“…you’re from Bowie when…” is a much older group that has only recently caught on. Back in the ancient times of Facebook’s early days, 2006, Ali Wear of Bowie was attending Belmont University in Nashville. Wear, a 2005 graduate of Bowie High School, missed home. She started the group for herself and a few college friends. Wear said at that time, Facebook was limited to college students.

They posted some memories, told some Bowie stories, and in several months, Wear forgot about the group. “It was trendy to do at the time,” said Wear. “You felt like you were part of some college-only thing.”

Fast forward to 2011, several months ago. Facebook, said Wear, changed the way e-mail notifications were sent out. She began receiving e-mails, a lot of e-mails, notifying her of Facebook postings. She opened one, and was taken to the group she had forgotten about. “You’re from Bowie when…” had blossomed. It now has 3,838 members.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Wear. “People in it are my age, but they are also my parents’ age. It’s pretty special the way it appeals to so many different types of people.”

Bowie is unique, said Wear, not merely because of things that happened here, but the people also. “I loved growing up in Bowie, and it seems so did a lot of other people,” she said.

Dot Albritton, Bowie High class of 1982, lives in Science Hill, Ky. She jokes that the groups are her social life. Posting allows her to connect with her own kind, people from Bowie, she said.

“Down here, I’ll tell someone that I grew up in a place where the houses had four models that repeat themselves section by section, and they’ll look at me like I’m from another planet,” said Albritton. “You have to be from Bowie to understand that.”

Through the “…if you remember…” page, she’s made friends with people from Bowie younger than her, and older.

It’s all about a Bowie state of mind, she said. Someone posted a phrase as a joke, which Albritton then framed and posted as a picture on the site: “Remember, we are Bowie folk – an odd breed that somehow stood up from the shallow end of the gene pool and never looked back.”

The writer moved to Bowie in 1967, grew up here, moved away, and moved back in 2002. And yes, he has posted in the Bowie Facebook groups.

Editor's note: This story has been changed from an earlier version to correct Dot Albritton's graduation year.