The Ross Lee Bowers Memorial Scholarship Fund was established by his wife, Anna Marie Bowers, in memory of her husband and his accomplishments in the field of respiratory therapy education.
To be eligible for the Bowers Scholarship, preference will be given first to students that attend Sand Hill Baptist Church. If no applicants attend Sand Hill Church, preference will be granted to applicants that are veterans. If applicants who are neither attendees of Sand Hill Baptist Church or veterans apply, then preferences will be given to students who are studying respiratory therapy.
Ross Bowers III was born in 1947 in Atlanta, Georgia and died on September 26, 2024 after a long battle with Parkinson’s and End Stage Renal Disease. He and his wife were lifelong residents of Franklin Furnace, Ohio where she still lives.
“He did love the church fellowship, the love and the fact that our sanctuary has a plaque above it that states, WE ARE FAMILY, and we mean it! Ross felt at home here and felt a camaraderie with the people here from day one. He worked hard to help anyone there that needed anything, especially the children getting ready to go to college or that wanted to go to college and didn’t think they could because of financial hardships. He was an educator first and foremost. He loved teaching. He was good at it and his students loved him. I am still receiving letters and cards from past students telling me what a difference he made in their lives. That how he encouraged them and believed in them when no one else in their lives did. That was my Ross. He just had that way about him. The night he died, my back yard was filled with
people that came to sing and pray because they loved him too. He was a special man, and for a little while, he was mine,” said Mrs. Bowers.
A visionary leader, Bowers authored Georgia’s respiratory care licensure and served as President of the Savannah Chapter of Ambucs for many years. His efforts with Ambucs included championing the Amtrykes program, providing specially adapted tricycles to children with disabilities. He took a hospital-based program in Savannah and turned it into a university baccalaureate program that was nationally recognized for excellence. He wrote the licensure for Georgia Respiratory Care and was president for many years for the Savanah Chapter of the Ambucs which worked with Americans with disabilities. He was instrumental in getting the Amtrykes started in that chapter for children with disabilities.
Mr. Bowers was an active member of the Georgia Society for Respiratory Care, serving as Speaker of the House of Delegates in 1990 and as a past President. He was honored twice with the Morton B. Duggan Distinguished Service Award, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the field.
His enduring legacy will live on through the recipients of the Ross L. Bowers III Endowed Scholarship.
Further information about the Ross Bowers III Memorial Scholarship Fund or other scholarship opportunities at the Scioto Foundation may be obtained by contacting Patty Tennant, Program Director – Donor Services, or Ginnie Moore, Grants and Scholarships Coordinator, at (740) 354-4612.