John B. “Benny” Rowell, Jr., 70, of Wilcox County, Georgia, died Tuesday, May 16, 2017, at Crisp Regional Hospital in Cordele.
Funeral services will be held 2 PM, Friday, May 19, 2017, at The Paulk Funeral Home Chapel in Fitzgerald with the Rev. Bobby Richey officiating. Interment will follow in Evergreen Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service on Friday at the funeral home.
Mr. Rowell was born November 17, 1946, in Irwin County, Georgia, to the late John Benjamin & Jewel Mae Nix Rowell. He was a 1965 graduate of Irwin County High School where he played football, baseball, and basketball as an Irwin County Indian. He retired as a supervisor for Proctor & Gamble and had lived in Albany for many years. Mr. Rowell served his country honorably in the United States Army during the Vietnam War era. He enjoyed singing Karaoke and was known as “Big Bopper”. Mr. Rowell was active in sports having coached his daughters in softball, worked as a referee for high school football and as an umpire for adult-league softball, and attended NASCAR races with his son. He loved to fish and was an avid gun collector. He was a member of Abba Baptist Church where he was a Deacon and formerly played church-league softball.
He is survived by his children and their spouses: Amy McCarty & Braden of Denver, Colorado, Becky Clark & Stacy of Wilcox County, and John B. Rowell, III & Amanda of Fitzgerald; grandchildren: Michael & Haley Kennedy, Brandon Rowell, and Trevor Rowell; and a great-granddaughter, Caroline Ann Kennedy. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Bonnie Branam Rowell and a sister, Florence Hudson.