Timothy Clayton Towery

~ John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

Today we mourn the loss of a great light in our lives; the passing of Clay Towery, brother, husband, daddy, friend, uncle and entertainer. Life was a stage for Clay. His mission, his goal in life was to put joy in the hearts of all whom had the privilege of knowing him. He accomplished this goal in great abundance every day he breathed.

Clay was born Timothy Clayton Towery on July 8, 1963 to Sue and Robert Towery in Austin, Texas. He attended school in the Austin public school system, eventually ending up at Austin High School where he was first introduced to his passion; performing. Clay had always had a flair for theatrics as he had always had a very active imagination and creativity in every aspect of his life. He was able to pick up any stringed instrument and within hours, play it well. Music became an obsession of his as he spent hours playing guitar and singing with his band.

Another passion of Clay’s which began in high school was skateboarding. He loved to skate Bastrop Pools and the Pflugerville Ditch. When he and a ramp had a meeting of the minds one jump, he suffered a compound fracture in his arm and required plates to be put in, twice. When asked what had happened, no two stories were the same. Sometimes it included an alligator, sometimes surfing and a shark, but they always brought a smile to the listener’s face. It is rumored that he broke it so many times, the next time they would amputate; another tale spun by Clay no doubt. His skate friends remember him by sharing “Our teenage years were a blur of skateboard adventures, partying, and the golden age of punk shows. It was the absolute best.”

The Song is ended but the melody lingers on.

~ Irving Berlin

Acting and entertaining was in his blood. After several attempts at college and several majors Clay finally acquiesced to his calling; theatre. He attended St. Edward’s University and came alive. And thus it began. His St. Edward’s repertoire included: Beyond The Horizon (Spring 1990), The Three Penny Opera (Fall 1991), The School For Scandal (Fall 1991), The Death and Life of Sherlock Holmes (Summerstock – 1992), The Foreigner ( Summerstock 1992), Tons of Money (Summerstock 1992), The Grapes of Wrath (Fall 1993), Gypsy (Spring 1993), Othello (Fall 1993), Inherit The Wind (1994), Great Expectations (Spring 1995), Jake's Women (Nov 1995) as Stand in for Eddie Mek.

Just a few of his various improv theatre performances include: Showdown, Doctors Without Boundaries, Elf Employment, Puppet Improv Project, The Professor, Seance, Spirited, Charles Dickens Unleashed, Black Vault, Girls Girls Girls, Boys of Summer, Duck Duck Boom, Guilds of Steel, Dandy, Monks With Gnap!: The Eight in 2001 and lots and lots of No Shame Theatre performances With VORTEX Repertory Company: Hamlet (1996), Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities (1999).

Clay participated in The VORTEX Workshop for 3 years--VORTEX Workshop Showcases were: Underworld (1999), Blood Storm (1999), Fractured Greeks (2000), The Edge of the Abyss (2001), and Uncaged! (20O1), The Frogs (2000), HyperZoo (2001), The Uncle Cuddles and Spiccy the Clown Show (2002), Ratgirl's Holy Rockin' Christmas, (2002), The Bridge Burner (2000) and Early Morning (2002) and many other original pieces. The Edge of the Abyss and Uncaged! were original company productions created in 2001. Uncle Cuddles (and Stephanie Towery’s Ratgirl) personas were born in that 2001 workshop and made their stage debuts in those 2 shows. They went on to have their own shows at The VORTEX in 2002. Just a few of the awards earned during his long and illustrious career include an Austin Critics' Table Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama and a B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Director of a Play for Youth for The Frogs in 2000, Summer Youth Theatre at The VORTEX. His final performance was January 7, 2014 – Dandy.

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

~ John Buchan

At an early age, Clay developed a love of fishing. This passion stemmed from summers with his grandmother who took Clay and Robyn to the beach in the summers and taught them to fish and crab hunt. Though he refined his skill and equipment from cane poles to hand tied flies and sophisticated rods and reels, he loved being on and in the water. And there was no one he wanted to fish with more than his dear fishing partner and friend Alvin Dedeaux. Their fishing stories span the globe and are notorious for adventure (always told in Clay fashion). He was undoubtedly only outfished once—by his six year old niece, Hannah at Stephanie’s parents’ lake house; a tale most likely “not” shared with many. He will, however take with him the satisfaction that his last day on earth he fished with his buddy Alvin and caught the only fish; which rides on the tails of his fishing trip in Oklahoma the week before when he caught the largest trout of his life, one that wouldn’t even fit in the net. I guess you could say that is the one that didn’t get away.

When he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night, and pay no worship to the garish sun.

~ William Shakespeare – Scene 2-Romeo and Juliet

During the preparation and performance of Hamlet, Clay met his best friend and life partner, fellow actor Stephanie Swenson. In Stephanie, Clay found his sunset. She brought completion to his soul. No matter what life threw at him, from that day forward, she was always his Northern Star, guiding him back to normalcy. She became not only his best friend, fellow performer, playmate, counselor and supporter, she became his wife. She gave not only the gift of her love and devotion to Clay (through thick and thin), she gave him a gift he had desired his whole life. She gave him Rowan. This was his greatest role. And it was by far his greatest performance: His standing ovation. It trumped any acting award or any large trophy catch. Playing with Rowan, their beautiful daughter and hearing her laughter was his greatest joy. She is a mirror image of her daddy—a glimpse into his spirit and soul with every smile and chuckle. She is our connection to this very wonderful man that will be deeply missed.

Though Clay loved to enjoy the finer things in life such as fishing, acting and spending time with his girls and his friends, he was also devoted to bettering his mind and always strived to be something and someone of whom his family and friends would be proud. His career spanned many venues. While fishing with a buddy, John Erskine, Clay got turned onto the gaming world of UO. Several weeks later, when Origin was looking for GM leads, Clay jumped at the chance to work with them and so began his working career as a gamer, creating video games with his immense artistic talent to, once again, entertain. He proceeded to work in this field with several other gaming names such as Wolfpack on Shadowbane, Ubisoft and finally Stray Bullet Games. When the gaming industry changed directions, he joined Home Depot where he gained much knowledge in the care and keeping of his beautiful home with Stephanie. Even at a point in life, however, where many men accept their place and make peace with it, he dreamed big. So, he entered school to become an EMT. In 2013 he graduated from EMT school and began his career helping others. He loved what he was doing and would get so excited when he talked about all he was learning. Clay was never complacent in anything he did. Life was a stage for him and every performance deserved his best. That is what he gave.

It is not length of life, but depth of life.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Clay leaves behind many friends; too many to name. He touched so many people throughout his brief time in this life. He leaves behind his beautiful and loving wife Stephanie and daughter Rowan. He leaves a half sister, Brenda Shea, his parents-in law, Linda and Gary Swenson, his brother and sister-in-law Chris and Natosha Swenson and their children Samantha and Jacob; my four daughters, Rachel, Jessica, Becca and Hannah Trippe, and me, Robyn, his baby sister. Clay was my worst nemesis at times and my greatest protector at others. He taught me so much about life and about myself. He lifted me out of Hell during my darkest hour and words will not describe the depth of my sorrow today. I love you Clay. We all love you very much and are better for having had you in our lives. You were one of the strongest men we will ever have the honor of knowing. Until we meet again.

Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.

~ William Shakespeare

A Memorial to Celebrate Clay’s life will be held at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, February 20, 2014 in the Chapel of Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home.