Arthur J. Bowers


Saturday, June 19, 2004 10:52 PM MDT



Feb. 21, 1920 - June 15, 2004

Arthur J. Bowers, 84, a retired U.S. Army Pearl Harbor survivor and 47-year Sierra Vista, Ariz., resident, passed away on Monday, June 15, 2004, at the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center as the result of complications from a heart attack.

Born on Feb. 21, 1920, in Rutherford, N.C., Art was the fifth of six children born to Joshua Henry and Melinda Moore Bowers. The family later moved to the Travelers Rest area of Greenville County, S.C.

Art joined the CCCs at the age of 16 and entered the Army at 18. He was stationed at Fort Armstrong, Hawaii, from 1940 to 1945, where he survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.

During a furlough visit home, he met Sarah Margaret Wagner, and on Sept. 17, 1946, they began a marriage that spanned 57 years. They have three children.

Art was in the 11th and 82nd Airborne divisions, the Signal Corps, and served as a military policeman and an aerial photographer.

Art was transferred to Fort Huachuca in 1957. After retiring as a staff sergeant in 1960, Art served as a Sierra Vista policeman under police chiefs Bill Stone and Reid Vance. He and Sarah later moved to their country home in Woody Hills Estates, where they have provided a friendly environment for the birds and wildlife that visit daily.

Art and Sarah loved to travel, and they had the opportunity to live for a few years in Art's beloved Hawaii and in Germany.

Art enjoyed music and he shared that love by playing his guitar and singing old-time mountain-country music with family and friends. That activity will be greatly missed.

Art and Sarah have three children. Daughter Winona Perry of North Logan, Utah, and her husband, Robert, have three children, Jon and Nick Perry, and Kami McNeil. Kami is the mother of Art's only great-grandchild, Brooklyn. Son Steve Bowers of Tombstone, Ariz., is the father of Kiley, Kristopher and Kerica Bowers. Son Tony Bowers and Cheryl of Bolivar, Mo., have a son, Chad. Art and Sarah have numerous nieces and nephews who they love.

Art was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Virgil and Chester Bowers; and sisters, Nora Davis, Fannie Rasnick and Mamie Howard.

A private honor-guard ceremony was held at the Fort Huachuca cemetery on Friday, June 19, 2004. Cremation was under the direction of Jensen's Funeral Home. Inurnment will be conducted at a later date.


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