 Dowley married Everett Lewis, a fish peddler from Marshalltown, on January 16, 1938 at the age of 34.Everett Lewis also worked as the watchman at the county Poor Farm.According to Everett, Maud Dowley showed up at his door step in response to an advertisement he had posted in the local stores for a "live-in or keep house" for a forty-year-old bachelor.