Lawrence Dowler

Master Sergeant Lawrence Edwin Dowler, United States Air Force (Ret.), affectionately known by many as Ed, age 73, of Willow Swamp Road in the Ashton Community in Colleton County entered into his eternal rest Friday morning, January 28, 2011, at the Colleton Medical Center in Walterboro.



Funeral services will be conducted 3 oclock Monday afternoon, January 31, 2011, from The Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Chapel, Walterboro. Interment will follow in Peniel Baptist Church Cemetery, 37 Forks Road, Islandton.



Master Sergeant Dowler was born January 13, 1938, in Athens, Ohio, and was a son of Mrs. Maybelle Dodd Dowler and the late Lawrence Howard Dowler. For twenty years, he served his country faithfully in the United States Air Force, having seen action during the Vietnam Era having the rank of Master Sergeant at the time of his retirement. He then was employed and retired from South Carolina Electric and Gas having been a Control Room Operator at the Canadys Station. He was also a volunteer fireman with the Colleton County Fire and Rescue. He was a member of Ashton Baptist Church where he was active in worship and dedicated to the work of the church. He was a Master Mason and had also entered the Scottish Rite while stationed in Germany during his military career.



Surviving in addition to his mother of Athens, Ohio are: his loving wife of fifty-two years, Mrs. Martha Jane Walling Dowler; a daughter, Judith Judy Dowler Bailey of the Ashton Community; a brother, Richard Dowler of Greenville; and three sisters, Twila Cable of Texas, Gwendolyn Porlier of Pennsylvania, and Anita Dowler of Ohio. There are two granddaughters, Taylor Christine Bailey and Leslie Ann Bailey; as well as his mother-in-law, Mrs. Ethel Walling Fennell of Islandton that also survive. He was preceded in death by his son, Corey Edwin Dowler and a daughter, Sharon Lynn Dowler.



Flowers will be accepted, or for those that wish, the family has respectfully requested that memorial contributions be directed in his memory to: Peniel Baptist Church, for use with their cemetery fund, 37 Forks Road, Islandton, South Carolina 29929.



For those that so desire, memorial messages and thoughts of condolence as well as memories of Mr. Ed may be shared with the family by visiting: www.briceherndonfuneralhome.com.



Family and friends are invited to call from 5:00 until 7:00 this Sunday at THE BRICE W. HERNDON AND SONS FUNERAL HOMES, WALTERBORO CHAPEL, 1193 Bells Highway, Walterboro, 843.538.5408.

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