Annie Sue Bowers

Annie Sue Bowers, age 87, passed away quietly at her home in Birmingham, Alabama surrounded by her family on Tuesday, March 5, 2019. Annie Sue (Chandler) Bowers was born in Athens, Limestone County, Alabama on January 21, 1932, the seventh of nine children born to Earl and Sallie (Birdwell) Chandler of Athens. Sue grew up in Limestone County and in Athens. She graduated from Athens Bible School and Freed Hardeman College in Henderson, Tennessee. Sue and her husband AI knew each other from the seventh grade, attended both schools together and were married on October 1,1954. This past October, they celebrated 64 years of marriage - a remarkable achievement in this day and age. After raising her own family, Sue returned to Athens College to complete her Bachelor's Degree in Education and for over 25 years, she was an elementary school teacher, touching the lives of countless students in the Decatur, Alabama area. Sue was preceded in death by her parents; three sisters, Alma Brackeen, Esterleen Brackeen, and Vernice Cagle; and two brothers, Arlie Chandler and Everett Chandler.

Survivors include Sue’s husband, AI; her son, Kerry (with his wife Nancy) from Birmingham; her daughter, Phyllis Casey (and her husband Frank), also of Birmingham; three grandchildren, Andrew Bowers (and his wife Rachel) and David Bowers (and his wife, Ashley) from Birmingham, and Margaret Arwood (and her husband, Michael) of Atlanta, Georgia; and the absolute apple of Sue’s eye, her great-grandson Benjamin Bowers, son of Andrew and Rachel. Survivors also include two sisters, Doreen Dunnivant and Elaine Conn; and one brother, Earl Chandler.

Sue was a faithful and dedicated Christian and a lifelong member of the Church of Christ. She and AI spent most of their years living and working in Decatur, where she worshipped with both the Somerville Road and Danville Road congregations. In her later years, as her health declined and as she and AI needed more support from family, they moved to the Birmingham area, where she lived out the last 10 years of her life. She was a member of the Vestavia Church of Christ and attended faithfully up to the point her health would no longer allow.

The family will greet friends at a visitation on Thursday, March 7, 2019 from 6-8 p.m. at Ridout’s Southern Heritage Funeral Home in Pelham, Alabama. Friends will also be greeted from 10-11 a.m. on Friday, March 8, 2019 at Roselawn Funeral Home in Decatur, Alabama, immediately followed by the funeral service at 11 a.m. at the funeral home’s chapel, Decatur. Burial will be at Roselawn Memorial Gardens, Decatur, Al.