Gabriella Rowen Honored at Graduation Party

Around 100 people came to Sheridan Christian Church Sunday to honor Gabriella Rowen at her graduation party. Gabriella, or Gigi, showed a lot of talent as a homeschooler as she sang a gospel song at the gathering. She plans to go to Northwest to study pre-veterinary studies. She works part-time at Dr. Gerald Myers at Pickering. She also plans to be in the Northwest Choir.

Her grandfather, Huey Rowen, spoke at the graduation party. He told a story about how she went to a t-ball game and asked a group of kids if she could play with them, which they did. Later that evening, she kept wanting to go somewhere and her mother kept having to jump up and bring her back.

Every kid looks forward to driving, but Gabriella was more insistent than most. Huey talked about how she was with him one time and she insisted on driving his truck sitting on his lap one time without him holding the wheel even though she kept driving into a hay bale.

Ever since she was able to do so, Gigi always helped her dad, Clint, with the calves. If Clint said something had to be done a certain way, she would do it that way no matter what anyone else told her. She took her job so seriously that one time, one calf fell through the ice and she jumped in frantically trying to rescue it. Luckily, her dad and grandpa were around, and they were able to help her rescue the calf, which survived.

There was also the time where Gabriella was bound and determined to make a cake just right, and after three years and going through numerous boxes of cake mix, she finally won first prize at the church with a cake that looked like a llama. There was also the time where she was knee-deep in mud working calves and she was smiling and singing her favorite hymns.

Huey had plenty of advice for her granddaughter, such as:

—Life is a continuous testament;

—Nothing in this world is going to last;

—Make good choices, have few regrets;

—Go above and beyond.

“You’ve done well, worked hard, and there is no reason why you won’t be successful in your next season of life,” said Rowen. “Faith makes you special. I don’t want the world to take that from you.”