Lawrence (Larry) Bowers, Jr.

Except for the periods spent during his formal education and military service Larry has lived all of his life in the central Shenandoah Valley. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1966 and entered the United States Air Force as a brand-new Second Lieutenant. After completing flight school in Texas, he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command as a B-52 Co-pilot. Over the next four years he was assigned two temporary tours in Southeast Asia flying more than 100 bombing missions in South Vietnam, Cambodia, and along the North Vietnamese border in Laos.

After leaving the air force in 1971, his wife, Linda, and the GI Bill put him through graduate school at JMU and law school at the University of Richmond. He then practiced law for the next twenty-seven years in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Among his professional activities during those years, he served as the Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for Rockingham Co. and the City of Harrisonburg, and opened his private law practice representing individuals as well as two of the incorporated towns within the county. He later formed a partnership with T.J. Wilson known as Wilson & Bowers. Upon his retirement from private practice in 2001 he was appointed to serve as a Substitute Judge for the General District Courts and so served until his retirement in 2016.

Larry has been active in numerous community organizations such as the Bar Association, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society, Rotary, and the hospital board. He enjoys gardening, his book club, and most anything regarding aviation and Virginia Tech. Larry and Linda have two daughters, Courtney Bowers and Laura Reynolds.

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