Known for pushing daring ideas to serve others and honor God, the Rev. Tom Bowers didn’t just talk about change — he made it happen.
Under his dynamic leadership, a simple suggestion to feed homeless people in the parish hall at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church blossomed into the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Last year alone, this initiative provided 96 million meals to those in need.
Bowers’ approval of educational support for school dropouts became the genesis for Communities in Schools, a national program that has served millions of children.
And when he saw that the church’s youths weren’t fully engaged during Sunday services, he gave parishioners the option of celebrating the Mass with folk music — an unconventional move for the Episcopal Church in the 1970s and one that packed the pews.
“In Atlanta, he was an amazing catalyst for the spirit of God,” said Ann Cramer, a community leader and member of St. Luke’s since 1968. “We call it the miracles on Peachtree Street.”
The Reverend Thomas “Tom” Dix Bowers — a transformative figure at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in downtown Atlanta — died peacefully July 13 at 96 years old. His funeral was July 20 in Moreland City, North Carolina, where he lived.
Bowers was rector at St. Luke’s from 1971 to 1978 and is still legendary at the church more than 40 years later, said the Rev. Winnie Varghese, the church’s current rector.
She said Bowers is credited with re-energizing St. Luke’s at a time when some of the city’s downtown churches were closing or relocating to the growing northern suburbs.
“He brought it back from dying,” the Rev. Varghese said.
Under Bowers’ leadership, St. Luke’s became more relevant, longtime church members said. Some of the things he did were introducing folk masses and televising Sunday services. He actively pursued social change, welcoming Black clergy onto his staff during the Civil Rights Movement and adding women clergy once the church opened ordained ministry to women.
“His motivation was to be of service like Jesus called us to be — on the roads, in the streets, and in the homes,” said Don Plummer, a spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.
Bowers signed off on creating a feeding ministry for homeless people, and soon, the church was feeding people in shifts of 75 at a time, said Bill Bolling, a longtime parishioner who volunteered and then was hired at $100 a week to run what became known as the church’s Crossroads Ministry.
With Bowers’ approval, Bolling started a food bank at the church around 1979, one of the first in the country to be run by a congregation. Bowers was instrumental in the church obtaining its first grant and expanding the food bank to include 23 church congregations, later becoming the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
“Tom was the most creative entrepreneur minister I have ever met,” said Bolling, who would go on to make running the Atlanta Food Bank his life’s work. “Tom was really starting a revival because, even today, St. Luke’s is known for its outreach and its role in the community.”
Bolling said Bower’s legacy also includes a training and counseling center at the church and regular community meetings on the issue of affordable housing, both rarities at the time.
Transforming the church into a hub of activity had its challenges.
“We had homeless people upstairs (being fed), and Neil (Shorthouse) had all these troubled kids downstairs,” Bolling said. “We would just try to keep them separate. But that was opening up the church, saying we’re going to use every square inch of this property to serve the city’s needs.”
Later, Bowers and prominent architect Larry Lord pushed to build a school on church property for those disadvantaged students, Shorthouse said. He said they had to clear federal hurdles to put a private school on church grounds.
“Tom naturally embraced everybody. He wanted to hug everybody and connect people,” Shorthouse said. “He knew God’s in charge, and he knew these people are God’s people, and they are going to do the right things.”
Bowers was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, and early in life, followed the likely path of a true Southern gentleman. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute, fulfilled his duty of service to his country in the Korean War, and then graduated from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, Varghese said.
In 1977, Bowers was presented the Human Relations Award from the Martin Luther King Center for Social Change. During his lifetime, he also received three honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees.
He left St. Luke’s to answer his call to serve in an urban ministry at St. Bartholomew’s in New York City, where he founded a soup kitchen, a food bank, a shelter program, an AIDS task force, and a ministry to help older people.
Cramer said: “He lived the scriptures in a way that was profound and prophetic. He was joy personified. He was a legend, a legacy and one that at St. Luke’s we still fondly recall and remember.”
Bowers lost his wife of more than 40 years, Margaret, to ovarian cancer in 2001. He married his second wife, Palmer “Pam” Ulmer, in 2003.
He is survived by his wife, Palmer Ulmer Bowers, and her son Charlie A. Sumners; his brother, John Pennington Bowers; his children Margaret Anne Bowers (Robert) Ayres, Patricia Elizabeth Bowers-Young (Timothy), and Jonathan St. Paul Bowers; several grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
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