William Milton Towery

William (Bill) Milton Towery passed away on October 30, 2024 at the age of 96. He was born on January 29, 1928 in Owensboro, KY to Joseph (Joe) Chesley Towery and Elsa Frances Kirk. He had an older brother John Chesley Towery. At age 6, it was discovered that Bill had a serious eye problem and spent grades 1 to 8 in Louisville, KY with his maternal grandparents, attending special sight saving classes. Bill’s father Joe taught Agriculture at Daviess County High School near Owensboro, where Bill graduated in 1946.

Bill met his wife A. Joan Lamb while attending Arkansas State College, where he received a B. S. in Agriculture. Bill’s father Joe was managing the College farm. Bill and Joan met while playing in the college band. They were in the same line of march, with her playing the Bell Lyre and he played the Bass Horn. Joan majored in English and Secondary Education. They started dating and married the next summer on July 2, 1950.

Joan taught English at Dyess High School while Bill completed his degree. Bill got a job in Wilson, AR near where Joan was teaching. Bill helped out preaching at several small churches. After the birth of daughter, Nancy Caroline, Bill then got a better job in West Plains, MO for a few months. Bills’ parents had moved from Arkansas to Louisville, KY and offered to help Bill attend the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary there. While there, son Daniel Miller was born.

For 5 years, Bill was the pastor of first the Maceo Baptist Church and then Sugar Grove Baptist Church, both outside of Owensboro, KY. Daughter Sarah Frances was born during this time. Joan did substitute teaching in the county schools. Meanwhile, Bill’s parents moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Bill and Joan decided to join them there and moved in 1960. Joan taught English at Driftwood Junior High for a year. After the stillborn birth of a son, Kirk Andrew, Joan taught for 5 years at Fern Hall Private School.

Bill taught Chemistry and Earth Science at Pompano Beach Senior High School for 20 years. He also served as an interim pastor at several churches and did substitute preaching. After retiring from teaching, Bill was the Minister of Outreach, including the Bus Ministry and Senior Adult program, at the First Baptist Church of Pompano Beach for 6 years. Bill’s father – his fishing buddy - had died and his mother moved to Austin, TX near her son John. The kids had left home and Bill and Joan decided to move to Umatilla in Central Florida near a cousin Gerald Manley.

Bill and Joan loved to do genealogy research on their ancestors and went on many trips that included roaming old cemeteries and digging through dusty papers at court houses. Bill was really proud to be a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He wrote 7 self-published books on his life and ancestors. Joan was a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Bill and Joan moved to near Austin, TX in 2002 to be near son Dan and daughter Sarah and their families. They loved to travel and went to many places in the U. S., to Europe several times, to the Holy Land and to Alaska.

Bill was preceded in death by his wife Joan in 2013 and daughter Sarah Goss in 2022. He is survived by daughter Nancy Swenson and son Daniel Towery, 6 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.