John C. Towers

In great sorrow we announce that John Craig Towers , 80, of McLean, Virginia passed away at the Virginia Hospital Center on February 11, 2022. John was born on October 3, 1941 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin to his parents Rosemary (McCart) and John K Towers. Although John was always associated with his tales of an idyllic childhood in Savannah, his mother was actually from Wisconsin and returned home to have her first child. This turned into a stay lasting the duration of WWII, as her husband served in the navy in the Pacific.

After the war, John’s father returned to his Georgia roots, and the family settled in Savannah. All his adult life John was famous for vividly recounting adventures with his buddies in and around Savannah of the 1950’s. After graduating from high school, John pursued his zest for travel through first the Coast Guard and then the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and the Merchant Marines.

Finally, late in the 1960’s, John began his studies at Harvard. Graduating in the summer of 1972, he then married the former Suellen Mutchow on June 30th in the Appleton Chapel at Harvard. Suellen was at the time working with early English printed books in Harvard’s Houghton Library.

Highly influenced by an intensive Harvard summer school course in psychology, John discovered his future calling as a psychologist. Once the couple resettled in McLean, Virginia, in 1974 John began work at the Woodburn Center for Community Mental Health in Annandale, Virginia - located next to the then Fairfax Hospital. Woodburn was a model community health center and was the setting in 1980 for Jimmy Carter’s signing of the Mental Health Systems Act. John earned a master’s in psychology and worked as a psychotherapist at Woodburn until his retirement in 2001. After that, he continued with a part time private practice.

John was an especially compassionate psychologist, giving freely of his time and frequently receiving some of the more challenging cases at the center. Holiday cards and continuing contact with some of his former patients attest to the way in which he was able to improve lives.

John was known for his positive attitude, friendly, cheerful personality, enthusiasms, love of beauty (sunsets, the scenery of the southwest) and above all for his loyalty to family, friends, country, and the Green Bay Packers. During his time with the Merchant Marines, John sustained a serious head injury that resulted in long months of therapy. Not only did this struggle illustrate his indomitable spirit, but it provided him with special empathy for patients enduring setbacks.

Never one to waste free time, in the 1970’s and beyond John spent many days on the Eastern Shore, enjoying a topography that reminded him of the area around his beloved Savannah. Then he discovered golf. This became the passion of his last 4 decades. Loving the architecture of the courses, he went out of his way to visit legendary ones. Summers in Wisconsin gave him access to fabulous courses there. John played locally at the Westwood Country Club, where he was able to continue a social life even during Covid. Many were amused at the way in which he dutifully reported in to his wife, known as HQ (Headquarters).

John is survived by his wife of 50 years, Suellen; his sister Kathleen Waite (Savannah); his brother Patrick Towers (Atlanta); his sister-in-law Sally Berner (Green Bay); 4 nephews to whom he sometimes served as a second father: (Craig Edgerly, David Edgerly, Christopher Edgerly, and Alfred Waite); numerous grand nephews and a grand niece; and by his special cousin Patsy Towers Kourakos. He is also survived by the most recent of a series of treasured dogs, a Havanese named Lola. Due to Covid, a memorial will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The American Cancer Society https://www.cancer.org/ or The Collegiate Church of St Paul the Apostle, 1802 Abercorn St., Savannah, Georgia 31401.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.murphy-fh.com for the Towers family.