James Nelson Mowry

Dr. James Nelson Mowry, 92, of Arlington, Texas, peacefully went to be with his Heavenly Father on November 5, 2025. James (Jim) was born in Oakes, North Dakota on December 23, 1932. The son of a Nazarene minister, he attended Bethany Nazarene College in Bethany, OK in 1951 where he met the love of his life, Clara Robinson. They married in August of 1953 in Waco, Texas, where they lived for the next six years.

Jim volunteered and served in the Army from 1954-1957. He played football and was a championship wrestler for the Army’s inter-base and Texas AAU league.

In the summer of 1959, he and Clara moved to Austin, TX where they began their family. Jim taught physical education at the University of Texas for 12 years while pursuing his doctoral degree at the University’s College of Education. He received his PhD in Philosophy of Education from UT in 1977.

During that time, he also began designing and constructing swimming pools and opened Cen-Tex Swimming Pools of Austin in the 1960’s. For almost 30 years, Cen-Tex Pools grew and developed a reputation for quality, custom pools throughout the central Texas area.

In Fall of 1982, Jim accepted a position as Dean of Students at Bethany Nazarene College where he served for two years before moving back to Georgetown, Texas in 1984. He continued to design and build custom pools in the Austin area for the next two decades until Clara passed away in 2001. A couple of years later, he retired and moved to Cedartown, Georgia and later to Fort Smith, Arkansas where he lived with his sister.

Jim was preceded in death by his wife Clara (Robinson) Mowry; father, Rev. George L. Mowry; mother Grace (Nelson) Mowry; brother Rev. George Mowry; sister Joanne Simmons; and daughter-in-law Fahra Mowry (wife of his son Ethan).

He is survived by four sons; Jimmy (wife, Jeanne); Brent (wife, Angie); Ethan; and Brian (wife, Lisa), twelve grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Jim is forever remembered for his unwavering faith in God; his faithful love as a husband and father; and his compassionate love for others. Jim was well known and respected as an athlete in his youth, although he maintained incredible physical strength and a well-toned physique though the remainder of his life. While his physical prowess could make him appear intimidating, inwardly he was a meek and gentle spirit, which he demonstrated through his graciousness and kindness to others and an unwavering commitment to living his life with integrity inspired by Christian principles.

While Jim had an impeccable reputation as an outstanding pool builder and athlete, he wanted most to be remembered for his scholarly pursuit reconciling what he considered a misinformed contradiction between scientific, secular epistemologies and Christian explanations for the origin and meaning of life. He encountered and rigorously thought through these seemingly diametrically opposed discourses in graduate school. Throughout the remainder of his life, however, he refined his thesis and lead conversations and authored essays in which he linked empirical studies cited in physics to Biblical frameworks and scholarship that could ontologically account for the intervention and guidance of a Divine, loving, and merciful Creator. Ultimately, his goal was to communicate these findings and insights to others, in particular his sons and grandchildren, whom he thought might question their faith when encountering similar discourses within the intersection of scientific inquiry and theology.

A committal service for James will be held Friday, December 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM at Cook-Walden Capital Parks Cemetery, 14501 N Interstate Hwy 35, Pflugerville, TX 78660.