Charles Barker "Jimmie" Rowe

Courtland - Charles Barker Rowe was born July 29, 1938 in Raiford Hospital in Franklin, Southampton County, Virginia. His parents were Charles Henry and Eula Clementine Barker Rowe. Although not his legal name, he was known more often by family and friends as “Jimmie” or “Jim”. He died Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at age 88 after failing health.

He grew up on the family farm in the Sebrell community and developed an early interest in agriculture (especially the breeding and showing of purebred Hampshire hogs). He was active in 4-H Club and was “tapped” for membership in the Virginia 4-H Allstars. It was here that he developed an interest in all kinds of music, especially liturgical classics.

He graduated from Courtland School in 1955, a member of its last graduating class, after which he matriculated at Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia where he was a Dean’s List student, editor of the newspaper, president of the Washington Literary Society and a member of the Honor System Board of Review. He was elected to academic and leadership fraternities including Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Beta Kappa, as well as Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. He received a BA degree with honors in American History in 1959, following which he taught English in Newport News, Virginia.

Seeking a career change, he entered the School of Law at Washington and Lee University and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1964. At W&L he was elected to Order of the Coif, served as an Associated Editor of the Law Review and represented his class for two years on the University Student Body Executive Committee and served on the 1964 Mock Convention Steering Committee. He was again elected to “Who’s Who”.

Following law school, he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He completed the Infantry Officers Basic Training at Fort Benning, GA and the JAG class in Charlottesville, Virginia. His first assignment was to Fort Polk, Louisiana and then Fort Hunt, Texas where he was assigned to the 15th Support Brigade formed for service in Vietnam. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service.

Upon completion of his military obligation, he returned to Courtland to establish a law practice which continued for almost 55 years, in large part in partnership with F. Bert Pulley.

Jimmie considered February 17, 1968 to be the most momentous day in his life. On that day he married Nancy Brooke Taylor, the daughter of Dorothy Brooke Borum Taylor and Frederick Southgate Taylor, (whose roots run deep in Norfolk since the early 18th century) after a 9 year courtship.

Shortly after their marriage they bought an old home on North Main Street in Courtland which they restored to provide a loving home, filled with family pieces and locally made furniture and memorabilia. This remained their home until 2024 when they relocated to the Village at Wood’s Edge in Franklin.

He served as Judge of the Court of the Town of Courtland and a Substitute Judge of the Southampton General District Court, Combined General and Juvenile Court for the Fifth Circuit. He was a member (and past president) of the Franklin Southampton Bar Association and also served two times as a member of the 4th District Ethics Committee.

He was president of the Southampton Unit of the American Cancer Society, a director of Southampton Memorial Hospital and a member of the Southampton County Electoral Board. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Southampton Academy. He served two terms as a member of the Board of the Walter Cecil Rawls Library, and was Chairman of the Museum Committee and Board Chairman. He was an active communicant of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church where he served on the vestry, and as Church Treasurer for more than 50 years.

Jimmie has always been interested in history, especially that of Southampton County and of the genealogy of the families who have populated the area. He was a charter member of the Southampton County Historical Society and a member of the Jamestown Society.

He enjoyed visiting and traveling with friends and family, especially at the family beach house (which he named “Panacea”) on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He was a member of the Norfolk Yacht & Country Club and a former member of the Cypress Cove Country Club.

In addition to his parents and Nancy’s parents, Jimmie was preceded in death by Nancy’s sister Dorothy Taylor Callahan, his three sisters Virginia Lee Rowe, Ruth Rowe Kello (James Richard Kello III) and Bettie Joyce Rowe Hughes (James E. Hughes), nephews James Richard Kello IV and William James Hughes, and by many aunts and uncles, including Hattie Rowe Wells and her husband Riddick Norman Wells, with whom he enjoyed a very special relationship.

He is survived by his wife, his daughter Ashley Brooke Rowe of New York, NY, his son Tazewell Southgate Rowe (Gigi) of New York, NY and grandson Whitman Orville Rowe as well as nieces Martha Kello, Antoinette Kello Quidley, Katherine Hughes McClure, Nancy Hughes, Betsey Kello and their descendants, as well as by many great nieces and nephews, and cousins.

At the request of the deceased, the family requests that memorial donations be made to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 156, Courtland, VA 23837 designated for the maintenance and support of the structure and for the ongoing services and other programs held at the church.

The family will receive visitors at Wright Funeral Home in Franklin on Sunday, September 20th from 3 – 4:30 p.m. Reverend James Browder will lead a funeral service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Courtland on Monday, September 21st at 11 a.m., with a burial afterwards in the family plot in Riverside Cemetery.

www.wrightfuneralhome.org