Douglas Fowler - Fowler's Death

Fowler's Death

Fowler was a widower for the last four years of his life. His wife, Abbie Marston Fowler, was born on September 22, 1906 and died on July 20, 1976, as a result of severe injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Baton Rouge on December 4, 1975. Fowler and his driver, Fred Schlesinger, a state employee, were also injured in the accident but recovered. The insurance company acknowledged that the other driver, an employee of Western Union Telegraph Co., was liable for the accident, and compensation was paid to both Fowlers and to Schlesinger. The two Fowler sons later sued for damages after their mother's death. They retained the services of the Natchitoches attorney and then state Senator Donald G. "Don" Kelly, a fellow Democrat.

Fowler died at seventy-three of emphysema and pneumonia in the Natchitoches Parish Hospital in Natchitoches. His funeral was held on February 1, 1980, in his home church, First United Methodist in Coushatta. In addition to Jerry Fowler, Douglas Fowler was also survived by his elder son, Dr. Wiley Douglas Fowler, Jr. (November 15, 1938—October 2, 1998), then of Jacksonville, Florida; two brothers, "Mutt" Fowler, then a Coushatta insurance agent, and John R. Fowler (March 3, 1912—May 21, 1990), then a Coushatta drug store owner; two sisters; eight grandchildren; several nieces and nephews, including Katherine Ann "Kathy" Fowler (1946-2006) and H.M. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr., of Coushatta.

Fowler, his wife, and elder son are buried in the family plot at Springville Cemetery in Coushatta.

In 1999, Fowler was inducted posthumously into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield in Winn Parish. In its obituary of Fowler, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate said that the former commissioner's favorite sport was clearly "politicking."