Walter Russell Bowie
American priest and writer (1882–1969)
Walter Russell Bowie (October 8, 1882 – April 23, 1969), was a priest, author, editor, educator, hymn writer, and lecturer in the Episcopal Church.
Early and Family Life
Walter Russell Bowie was born in Richmond, Virginia, actually the fourth of his family to have the same name, and with family relationships among the First Families of Virginia. Nonetheless, he traveled north for his college education, receiving a B.A. (1904) and M.A. (1905) from Harvard University. As a Harvard undergraduate Bowie was co-editor of The Harvard Crimson, with Franklin D. Roosevelt.
He then returned to Virginia and entered the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary, now known as Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, where he earned a B.D. in 1908 (shortly after which he was ordained a deacon) and later earned a D.D. (1919).
The Rev. Mr. Bowie married Jean Laverack on September 29, 1909. His aunt was the suffragist and educationist Mary-Cooke Branch Munford, and novelist James Branch Cabell was kin as well.
Ministry
Bowie was ordained a priest in 1909.
The public source identifies “Walter Russell Bowie” as american priest and writer (1882–1969). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Walter, Russell and Bowie.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7966019. VIAF identifies the subject as 18169387. The Library of Congress control number is n82084158. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882, 1969, 1904 and 1905.
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This entry incorporates text from “Walter Russell Bowie” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.