Mr. Robert Hartwell Hartwell Bowling

Robert Hartwell Bowling was born September 27, 1915, in Leake County near Freeney, Mississippi, to Robert Wiley and Augusta Quick Bowling. He was a graduate of Newton High School and attended Mississippi State University and Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1937 and served in the U.S. Air Force until 1949. In World War II he was pilot of a B – 17 flying 300 combat hours over North Africa with the Fifteenth Squadron of the Third Photo Reconnaissance Group under the command of Elliot Roosevelt, son of the then sitting U.S. President. As part of his service in North Africa, he was put in command of the air base at El Fasha in Darfur Province, Sudan. After serving overseas, he was assigned to the Air Inspector’s Office in the Pentagon. He continued flying throughout his life.

After leaving the military he became an attorney, a graduate of Jackson School of Law now Mississippi College School of Law, admitted to the bar in 1954 and was an insurance claims executive for Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company for thirty years retiring in 1980. He was among the early officers of that company established in 1947 who helped to build the foundation for what it is today. At the time of his retirement he was made an honorary member of the Louisiana State Legislature. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and upon retirement developed the hobbies of writing, woodworking and gardening. He was an elder of the Presbyterian Church and an active member of Briarwood Presbyterian Church at the time of his death. He was a former member of the Kiwanis Club.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Judith Lemly Bowling, and his brother, Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Francis S. Bowling.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Frances Goodwin Bowling, seven children: Robert Cary Bowling and wife, Hazel, Panama; William Hartwell Bowling, Madison, Mississippi, Peggy Bowling, Florence, MS; David Lemly Bowling and wife, Ann Carroll, Ridgeland, Mississippi; Judith Hamilton Smith and husband, Dane, Dallas, Texas; Mary Lee Reed and husband, John, Tupelo, Mississippi; Anne Rebecca Rowles, Madison, Mississippi, Jim Rowles, Madison, MS; Frank Goodwin Bowling, Alexandria, Louisiana; fourteen grandchildren: Warren and Taylor Bowling; Brent Bowling, Katie Bumgarner, Michael Bowling; Tyler, Ryan, Kyle, Dylan Smith; Brian, Mary Katherine, Thomas Reed; Meagan Knox, and Laura Rowles: five great grandchildren and a brother, James Lamar Bowling of Mobile, Alabama.

The above listed grandsons will serve as pallbearers.

Robert Hartwell Bowling passed away Thursday February 24, 2011 at Hospice Ministries. Visitation will be 4:00-6:00pm Sunday February 27, 2011 at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home on High Street in Jackson. A private family graveside service will be 9:30am Monday February 28, 2011 at Lakewood Memorial Park followed by a Memorial service at 11:00am at Briarwood Presbyterian Church.

Memorials may be sent to Our Lady of Sorrows Community Homes, 347 Brown’s Bend Road, Alexandria, LA 71303; Briarwood Presbyterian Church, 620 Briarwood Drive, Jackson, MS 39211; or the charity of your choice.