Sergeant Lowell Keith Bower
(1951-2023)
Lowell was born April 1, 1951, in Hamilton, to Lawrence Merle and Wanda Jean (Lakes) Bower. He attended Taft High School where he participated in marching band, church singing group, Good News, basketball, and baseball and as an athletic trainer. He graduated in 1969 and then attended Miami University until 1971.
Lowell joined the Butler County Sheriff’s Office as a fulltime Corrections Officer on January 1, 1973. He successfully completed the Ohio Basic Officer Training Program on July 11, 1973, and served until December 15, 1988.
He was then appointed Corrections Officer at the Lebanon Corrections Institute until May 1992.
On May 31, 1992, Corrections Officer Bower joined the South Lebanon Police Department as a Police Officer and was assigned as a Canine Officer. Additionally, he was an assistant to Butler County Clerk of Courts, Mark Baden. He left the Police Department July 21, 1995, and the Clerk’s Office in 1996.
During 1996 he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the Democratic State Central Committee.
On December 18, 1996, Officer Bower rejoined the Butler County Sheriff’s Office as a part-time Corrections Officer. He was promoted to Sergeant on June 7, 1997. Sergeant Bower played Taps on May 15, 2000, at rededication ceremonies for Fairfield Township Constable Emery Farmer who was killed in the line of duty in 1922. Sergeant Bower retired December 29, 2010, with just short of 38 years of service to communities in Butler and Warren County.
He also coached for Fairfield Little League baseball and New Miami School District football, volunteered for the Joe Nuxhall Baseball Foundation and The Challengers League, and was a member of the New Life Chapel in West Chester.
Sergeant Bower was diagnosed with cancer. After several rehab facility and hospital visits, on October 11, 2023, Mercy Hospital found cancer all over his body and metastasized into his bones, lungs, stomach. He was admitted to Hospice of Hamilton on October 13th. Sergeant Bower died at 4:30 p.m. on October 20, 2023, at the age of 72.
Sergeant Boers is survived by his children, Krista Leigh (Darren) Helton, Rebecca Jo (Christopher) Saylor, Kelley Lynn Bower, and Matthew William Bower (1980); grandchildren, Brayden, Liam and Gavin; partner, Sherry Morrical; former wife of 32 years, Patsy Venable Turman; and siblings, Sandra Hendrixson, Greg (Candie) Bower, Vicky (Michael) Young, Dale (Malinda) Bower.
Visitation will be held 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at Avance Funeral Home & Crematory at 4976 Winton Road in Fairfield. A funeral service will be officiated by Frank Smith at 7 p.m.
Memorials may be made to Hospice of Hamilton Ohio.
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