Funeral services for Dr. Edward G Bowen, 74, of Decatur and Lake Rabun, Georgia, will be held on Friday, July 23, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at A.S. Turner & Sons in Decatur, Georgia. Burial will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery in Newnan, Georgia. The family will receive on Thursday, July 22, 2010 from 6 - 8 p.m. in the funeral home. Honored to serve as pallbearers will be the board members of Fidelity Bank. Dr. Bowen died suddenly on July 20, 2010 at his home.
Dr. Bowen was born on February 11, 1936, in Lakeland, Florida, son of Evander J. and Marguerite Sanderson Bowen. He was a 1953 graduate of Lakeland High School and attended Duke University, enrolling with the class of 1957. He was a member of ATO fraternity. After his sophomore year, he enrolled in the Duke University College of Medicine and received the MD degree in 1959. He was a surgical intern at Duke Hospital from January 1 – December 31, 1959. He was an assistant resident in general surgery at the J. Hillis Miller Health Center of the University of Florida, Gainesville, and was inducted into the US Air Force with the rank of Captain. He served at the USAF Hospital Wiesbaden, Germany from January 1961 to May 1964. After his military service, Dr. Bowen returned to Atlanta and was a resident in OB/GYN at Grady Memorial Hospital of Emory University under Dr. John D. Thompson. He was an American Cancer Society Fellow at Emory University Hospital in 1966 and 1967. From 1968-1971, he was Director of Obstetrical & Gynecological Training and Chief of Staff, Dept. of OB/GYN at Crawford W. Long Memorial Hospital of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Bowen had a distinguished medical career. He was in the private practice of OB/GYN at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, where he served as Chairman, Dept. of OB/GYN; Chairman Credentials Committee; President of the medical staff; Chief of Staff; and finally Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He was a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He also served as a clinical professor at Emory University.
Dr. Bowen was a life member of the Piedmont Driving Club. He had served as a board member of Senior Citizens Services and the Atlanta Opera.
From 1989 to the present, Dr. Bowen was a board member at Fidelity National Bank and Fidelity National Corporation. He was on the Audit, Security, Loan and Discount, Nominating, Trust, and Proxy committees.
In 1990, Dr. Bowen received the Charles A. Duke Award as an outstanding alumnus of Duke University. He was a member and President of the Davison Club of Duke University. He was a member of the Medical Alumni Council, of the Board of Visitors of Duke University Medical Center, President of the Medical Alumni Association of Duke University, a class agent for his 1959 medical school class, and from 1999-2006 was a member of the Duke University Board of Trustees. He also served as Chairman of his 1957 undergraduate class 50th Reunion.
His hobbies were boating, gardening, travel, and opera. He was an enthusiastic alumnus of Duke and a loyal follower of Duke football and basketball, in both tragedy and triumph.
Dr. Bowen was predeceased by his parents; his brother James Lowell Bowen of Roanoke, Virginia, and by an infant grandson, Edward Burris Bowen of Newnan, Georgia. He is survived by his wife of fifty years (June 30, 1960), Mary Martin Davis Bowen; their three children, Curran (Caroline Burris) Bowen of Newnan, Sandy (Hayden Pou) Bowen of Atlanta, and Louisa Bowen Edmondson (Damon) of Roswell. He leaves behind his seven beloved grandchildren to whom he was "Bozo": Jeb Edmondson, Cooper Edmondson, Richard Bowen, Ware Edmondson, Ann Ellis Bowen, Kirby Bowen and Mary Martin Bowen.
He is also survived by an aunt, Barbara Robinson of Wilmington, North Carolina, and by cousins, Fib Bowen, Maxine Blackwood, Christine Mangum, Richard Lee Bowen, David Sanderson, Danny Sanderson, Judy Porter, Mary Bowen Caputo, and their families; by a niece and nephew, Laurie Pamplin of London, England and James L. Bowen Jr. of Roanoke Virginia, and by a sister-in-law Anne Bowen of Roanoke, Virginia. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Class of 1959 Scholarship Fund, Duke University College of Medicine, 512 South Mangum Street, Suite 400, Durham, NC 27701, Attn: Jeanne Oury.
