Co-workers, friends remember late police officer Ed Bowman
By Iva Butler | (ivab@thedailytimes.com)
Alcoa Police Officer James Edward “Ed” Bowman, who died of natural causes at home Saturday morning at age 45, “never met a stranger.”
This was what Alcoa Police Sergeant Keith Fletcher, his direct supervisor in the Patrol Division and good friend, recalled about Bowman on Monday.
“We used to ask him if he was running for mayor. You couldn’t go out to eat with him at a restaurant without a dozen people stopping to talk to him. He knew the name of every one of them,” Fletcher said.
‘An adventurer’
“Ed was an adventurer. He’d try almost anything once. He liked to camp, mostly local, but was open to camping anywhere, and did some hunting,” he said.
Bowman loved college football and Alcoa and Maryville high school football. His girlfriend’s son plays for Maryville and he went to both Alcoa and Maryville games.
“He was absolutely crazy and proud of his daughter, Cheyenne Bowman, 20, a student at Emory and Henry College in Virginia,” Fletcher added.
Cheyenne played soccer while attending Alcoa High School
Jennifer and Chester Hembree, of Alcoa, were good friends with Bowman.
Jennifer said her husband had known Bowman since he started working for Alcoa Police Department and she met him when she joined the Hembree family in 2003.
The Hembrees’ son, Lucas Hembree, 5, has a terminal genetic illness, Sanfilippo Syndrome.
Bowman “would open the door for him at school,” Jennifer recalled. “Occasionally he would go to the school and eat lunch with Lucas’ sister Allee at the elementary school.”
Allee was with her grandparents over the weekend and her mother told her about Bowman’s death Sunday. “Allee absolutely lost it,” she said.
Officer Turned 45 on Wednesday
Bowman turned 45 last Wednesday and Allee will turn 9 on Wednesday.
“He always had a smile on his face. When he’d see me he always said something to make me laugh and got me out of a bad mood. He never had anything negative to say. He was a very sweet guy,” Jennifer Hembree concluded.
Bowman had been in the Patrol Division since joining Alcoa Police Department in 2000. In addition, he was a K-9 officer at one time.
He also did a lot of walk-throughs at the schools, getting to know the kids and the teachers. Bowman did this as part of his rounds.
“He was a very outgoing person,” Fletcher said.
Full police funeral
Alcoa Police Chief Ken Burge said Bowman will receive a full police funeral, with an honor guard present.
Bowman’s daughter came home immediately when she learned of her father’s death. She asks that in lieu of flowers, all donations be made to the Fraternal Order of Police Shop with a Cop program.
The family will receive friends from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Smith Funeral and Cremation Service. The funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at in Smith Trinity Chapel and burial will be at Grandview Cemetery.
