Elizabeth City, NC – Leon Zealers "Jimmy" Fowler, Jr., 74, our beloved Dad & Papaw, stepped into eternity on April 19, 2010, to see his Savior face-to-face after battling with lung cancer and a brain tumor. He was born July 14, 1935 in Franklin County, NC, the only child of the late Leon Z. Fowler, Sr. and Ethel Tant Fowler. In his youth, he enjoyed football, baseball, and hotrods; he also became an Eagle Scout. In 1953, Jimmy, as most people knew him, graduated from Selma High School in Selma, NC. In Norfolk, VA, he furthered his education in carpentry, and with those talents, he built many things for his family to enjoy and remember him by. He became a contractor and was involved in the construction of all kinds of buildings and structures that people still occupy and/or frequent today. Throughout his life, he traveled to many places in the U. S. and abroad which he loved. He especially enjoyed being by the beach and was always encouraging us to see all that we could see in this world. He settled in places such as the Outer Banks, Bunn, and Elizabeth City, NC, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, VA.
Those left to cherish Jimmy's memory are his ex-wife and friend, Eunice Bowles Fowler of Portsmouth, VA; and their three children, daughter, Natalie Cobb and husband, Walter, of Franklin, VA, son, Leon Z. Fowler, III of San Juan, Puerto Rico & Outer Banks, NC, daughter, Nikki Ferree and husband, James, of Las Vegas, NV. He has four granddaughters, Kimberly Mascioli of Wilkes-Barre, PA, Noel Fowler of Virginia Beach, VA, Lisa Ward of Corapeake, NC, and August Ferree of Las Vegas, NV; and one grandson, Ethan Ferree of Las Vega, NV. He also has six great-grandchildren, Grace Mascioli of Wilkes-Barre, PA, Madison, Makaylah, & Braedon Dunlow of Corapeake, NC, and Jaylah & Nakiah Newsome of Virginia Beach, VA.
The memorial service will be held at 3 pm Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at Wright Funeral Home in Franklin, VA. www.wrightfuneralhome.org for directions and to email condolences to the family. Friends are welcome to visit with the family at the residence of Walter & Natalie Cobb following the service.