After graduating, Bowler worked as high school English teacher in
Alton,
Illinois, then was a psychology instructor who gave the Vrooman tests at
Ohio State University in
Columbus,
Ohio. and to a study of the
Ohio State School for the Blind. During
World War I, Bowler served in France with the
Red Cross. After the
Armistice was signed in 1918, ending the war, she was transferred to Romania where she worked supporting and resettling
refugees fleeing from
Odesa. Bowler returned to the United States in September 1919. She continued to work for the Red Cross in
Seattle,
Washington. She then worked for five years as executive secretary of the
San Francisco office of the
American Indian Defense Association (AIDA), alongside
John C. Collier. In 1929, Bowler was appointed as temporary and emergency president of the Bureau of Public Relations by the Chief of the
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in
Los Angeles,
California, following the death of
Ralph S. Boyesen who had previously held the role. grounds On September 1, 1934, Bowler became the first female superintendent at an "Indian" boarding school, working for the rural Carson Indian Agency in
Nevada at the boarding
Stewart Indian School. Bowler was appointed after the
Indian Reorganization Act (1934) was passed, which ended previous policies eradicating tribal culture and working towards the
cultural assimilation of Native Americans. While in post, Bowler supported girls organising themselves into sewing clubs. In 1936, she opened the Wa-Pai-Shone Craft Cooperative and Trading Post, which sold
buckskin and beaded artworks and other craft items made by female school students. The students received the proceeds from the sales. The name Wa-Pai-Shone was a
portmanteau to recognize the names of the three tribal nations (
Washoe,
Paiute and
Shoshone) that were represented in the school body. In response, the
Office of Indian Affairs (OA) removed Bowler from her position as superintendent for the Carson Indian Agency. Three councils of tribal leaders sent letters to the OA protesting her removal, including the
Walker River Paiute tribal nation of Nevada, but Bowler was still replaced. Before leaving her position she said that: She reported that
veterans who "already know the ways of the "white man’s world"" had the easiest time adjusting to urban life. == Death ==