John Sowers

SOWERS, III, John

John "Jay" Enoch Sowers, III, 89, of Brookhaven, GA, passed away on Friday, December 8, 2023. He was born in Buffalo, NY on July 11, 1934, to John Enoch Sowers, Jr. and Elizabeth P. Sowers both of Lebanon, PA.

John met the love of his life, Nancy Ellen Gage, at St. Lawrence University in 1952 at a freshman mixer. They married in June of 1956 after John's discharge from the US Army. Nancy passed away in 2016 4 months shy of their 60th anniversary. John and Nancy raised 3 daughters in Chamblee and enjoyed extensive travel, reading in the evenings, attending the symphony, and dining out. John especially enjoyed reading well researched history books and books were frequent gifts from his family. His favorite trip was a safari in Africa where he took some beautiful pictures of animals.

John enjoyed a long career with Bethlehem Steel and its Buffalo Tank Division, and later Metal Products as a successful sales engineer and trusted expert on storage tanks of all kinds.

He had a great passion for cars, both new and old. His first car as a teenager was a 1937 Ford, and in the 1990s he built 1932 Fords, one highboy roadster and one 5 window coupe and drove them extensively to street rod shows around the South. He also enjoyed several pilgrimages to the Oakland Roadster show and The SCTA Speed Week at the Bonneville salt flats. For daily transportation, some of the highlights of his fleet were a 1973 Camaro Z28, 1984 Ford Mustang GT, 1985 Corvette, 2003 Ford F150 Lightning, 2012 Grand Sport Corvette, 2016 Audi S6 and a 2017 Audi R8 Spyder. We know he is enjoying not being bound by speed limits in heaven.

John is survived by his loving daughters: Ann S. Willingham (Timothy R. Willingham), Barbara J. Sowers (Kathy K. Balentine), Julie E. Cox (Dr. Samuel W. Cox); seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

John also loved animals. He loved giving treats and spoiling his daughters' dogs and kitties as well as the neighbors' pets. He was a great father and a beloved grandfather who will be greatly missed.

John resided at Lenbrook for the last 6 years and the family wishes to thank the nurses on the 4th floor and his devoted health caregiver, John Daney.

In lieu of flowers…. please consider a donation in his name to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at https://www.aso.org/donate-today.