Pioneer educator Bowler dies at 89

Monday, March 25, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

Grant M. Bowler, longtime Moapa Valley educator, church leader and town board member, died Wednesday. He was 89.

Services for Bowler, a lifetime Southern Nevadan who served as principal of Moapa Valley High School 1942-76, were scheduled this morning at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Logandale Stake Center.

Bowler, who served as a regional representative of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church, also was a bishop of the Logandale Ward and president of both the Moapa Stake and the St. George, Utah, Temple.

The Bowler name has long been associated with civic leadership in the Bunkerville-Logandale-Overton area, as well as in Las Vegas.

Grant Bowler was the brother of late Nevada Assemblyman Austin Bowler and of late pianist Rachel Bowler Leavitt, who performed in the family's six-member George Bowler Band, which played Las Vegas when it was little more than a watering stop for the Union Pacific Railroad.

As a town board member in both Overton and Logandale, Bowler helped establish power and water districts and helped bring the Clark County Fairgrounds to Moapa Valley. Also during several tenures on those boards, a fire department, parks and other facilities were established.

Prior to being principal of Moapa Valley High, Bowler was principal of Logandale Elementary School 1935-42. An elementary school in Logandale was named for him in 1977.

Born Sept. 2, 1912, in Mesquite, Bowler was the seventh of 13 children of George Hebron Bowler and the former Nancy Holt.

When Grant was 2 years old, the Bowler family bought the Sylvester Ranch in Mesquite, which today is part of the Oasis golf course. In addition to being a fiddle player in the family band, George Bowler was a schoolteacher and a farmer who raised melons and onions.

Grant Bowler was long associated with the Boy Scouts of America and was an Eagle Scout.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Verna Bowler of Logandale; two sons, Lynn Bowler and Nick Bowler, both of Logandale; three daughters, Teresa Leavitt of Las Vegas, and Katherine Hannig and Lori Markosek, both of Logandale; two sisters, Georgene Buck of Las Vegas and Louise Leavitt of Homedale, Idaho; 23 grandchildren; and 33 great-grandchildren.

Burial will be at Logandale Cemetery. Metcalf Mortuary handled the arrangements.