Lunch lady whose termination made worldwide headlines has died
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POCATELLO — A school lunch lady who received international attention after being fired from her job in 2015 died last week at her daughter’s home.
Dalene Bowden, 53, passed away peacefully Thursday following an illness, according to her obituary.
Bowden worked in the cafeteria at Irving Middle School in Pocatello and was terminated in Dec. 2015 after she said she gave a free lunch to a 12-year-old student who did not have money to pay for food. At the time, Bowden said she offered to pay for the $1.70 lunch, but her supervisor rejected her offer.
Bowden’s story spread around the world and more than 50,000 people signed an online petition demanding that she be reinstated. Over $21,000 was raised in a GoFundMe campaign and Aegis Living Dwayne Clark donated $15,000 to her cause. Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 ended up offering her a kitchen position at a different school but Bowden declined the job.
In 2017, Bowden told the Idaho State Journal that her firing and the money she received afterward “turned out to be a nightmare” and divided her family.
Bowden is being remembered as “the life of the party” and someone who touched all the lives of her family and friends.
“She loved working as the lunch lady and as a cook,” her obituary states. “She loved to cook and made many meals for her mom, sisters, friends, daughter and grandchildren.”
A celebration of life will be held in Bowden’s honor at a later date.