Clarence Alfred Bowers

Clarence Alfred Bowers, age 92, passed peacefully from this life surrounded by his family on Sunday, October 19, 2025. Al, as he was known to family and friends, was born in Athens, Alabama on February 2, 1933, the second of six children of Clarence Dorsey Bowers and Prudie Mae (Chambers) Bowers of Athens. Al grew up in several locations around the Southeast, as his father moved for construction work, including time as a child in the Birmingham area. He graduated from Athens Bible School and attended Freed Hardeman College in Henderson, Tennessee, before graduating from David Lipscomb College with a degree in Chemistry. He later received a Master’s degree from Athens State University. Al and his wife Sue knew each other from the seventh grade, attended both Athens Bible School and Freed Hardeman College together and were married on October 1,1954. In October of 2018, they celebrated 64 years of marriage. To those who knew them, Al and Sue were a living example of the Biblical model of a husband and wife, truly “one flesh” as the Bible describes marriage.

Al served several years in the United States Army on active duty at Ft. Dix, New Jersey where he was stationed when his first child was born. He then served in the Army Reserve until 1963. Al spent his professional career working for ChemStrand corporation, later known as Monsanto, where he became a national leader in color chemistry, in textile dyeing and finishing research, and held multiple patents. After an early retirement from Monsanto, he taught chemistry at Calhoun Community College for over 10 years and obtained his real estate license. Al was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 64 years, three brothers and a sister.

Survivors include son, Kerry (and his wife Nancy) from Birmingham; his daughter, Phyllis Casey (and her husband Frank), of North Carolina; three grandchildren, Andrew Bowers (and his wife Rachel) and David Bowers (and his wife, Ashley) from Birmingham, and Margaret Arwood (and her husband, Michael) of Atlanta, Georgia; his 4 great-grandchildren Benjamin, Dax, and Beau Bowers, and Ellie Arwood. Survivors also include a brother James Bowers of Athens.

Al was a faithful and dedicated Christian and a lifelong member of the church of Christ. He and Sue spent most of their years living and working in Decatur, where he worshipped with both the Somerville Road and Danville Road congregations. In his later years, as Sue’s health declined and as she and Al needed more support from family, they moved to the Birmingham area, where he lived out the last 16 years of his life. He was a member of the Vestavia church of Christ and attended faithfully up to the point his health would no longer allow. While he will be missed, the family is comforted knowing that he has gone on to his eternal rest.

The family will receive friends Friday, October 24, 2025 from 10:00 am to 11:00 am with a celebration of Al's life to follow in the chapel at Southern Heritage Funeral Home. A committal service will conclude at 2:30 pm at Roselawn Cemetery in Decatur.