This biographical sketch adapted from "News of the Church: Elder John
E. Fowler of the Seventy" from the Ensign, August 1992, page 77
on the occasion of his call to the Second Quorum of Seventy.
Endurance running has been an important part of John
Fowler’s life. He has even run in marathons. Of far greater importance
in his life, however, has been what might be called endurance living.
As a new member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,
Elder John E. Fowler describes the values that have guided him and his
wife, the former Marie Spilsbury: “Marie and I agreed early in our marriage
that the high standards of the gospel would
be the central focus of our life together, and that has put everything
else in perspective for us. Our mutual love for Jesus Christ has deepened
our love for each other, so our family, our church and community service,
and my profession each takes its proper place.”
Elder and Sister Fowler now have six children, all
of whom enjoy participating in sports and music.
John Fowler was born in Redding, California, on 10
November 1944, and graduated from high school in Denver, Colorado. He attended
Brigham Young University, earning a B.S. in 1968 and a master’s degree
in accounting in 1969. For the next two
decades, as a C.P.A. with a major accounting firm, Brother Fowler served
first in Denver and then in New Orleans in various stake positions—high
councilor, counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, and regional
representative. He also taught
early-morning seminary and in New Orleans taught institute at Tulane
University. From 1988 until 1991, he and Sister Fowler presided over the
Georgia Atlanta Mission. Upon their release, they moved to Sandy, Utah.
Good endurance racers know the terrain of the race
course, so they conserve strength for hills and obstacles. “In life, I
have relied on the prophets and Apostles,” he says. “Following them is
the surest way.
“Enduring to the end is a matter of small daily things
that bring us closer to the Lord—prayer, scriptures, doing good.” Like
endurance running, endurance living is done step by step.
Elder Fowler filled his five-year call to the Second Quorum of the Seventy
with distinction and was honorably released October 4, 1997.
Grampa Bill is indebted to Brother Kent Bailey, a returned missionary who served under Elder Fowler in the Georgia Atlanta Mission, for the following information about Elder Fowler's life after his release from the Second Quorum.
Shortly after Elder Fowler was released from the Seventy he was appointed by Gov. Mike Leavitt (R-UT) as the State Olympic Official in charge of the 2002 Winter Olympics. This happened shortly after the Olympic scandal broke and it appears Elder
Fowler was brought in to help clean things up. After a couple of years in that position, he stepped down, in apparent frustration with the Olympic Committee’s misdeeds, and became the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Expressware, a tech company based out of Orem, UT.
