August L. “Gus” Fowler was born December 11, 1900, in Marion, to John Vancleve Fowler and Mary Charlotte Birkholz. He grew up in the family home located at 919 W. Cherry Street with one younger sister, three years his junior, named Cecile Fowler.
Gus was a graduate of the Marion Township High School and was vice president of his senior class in 1918, and the editor-in-chief of the first yearbook at Marion Township High School. In the same year that Gus graduated from high school, his 14 year old sister, Cecile, passed away.
In the 1920 census, Gus was 19 and living in his parents’ home on Cherry Street. Gus’s father was also a lawyer and his mother was a dress maker.
He attended two years of prelaw and two years law school at the University of Illinois where he was an honor student and first in his class. Gus completed his law training after one year of reading law under Circuit Judge D.T. Hartwell and lawyer, R. R Fowler, his uncle. He passed the bar exam with his class in 1923.
While at the University of Illinois, he worked for the telephone company and during the summer he worked in the Williamson County Circuit Clerk’s office of L.O. Caplinger. In the summer and fall of 1922, he worked in the Williamson County Clerk’s office of E.H. Scobey. He reported both mine riots trials for the Marion Evening Post as a reporter in 1922 and 1923.
He was married to Thelma Wiles on August 10, 1924, in Champaign. His mother, Mary, had passed away in late February earlier in the year.
Gus practiced law in Marion, from 1923 until his retirement in 1984, having been active in the work of the Williamson County Bar Association and Illinois State Bar Association, of which he was a member. He was a fellow of the American of Trial Lawyers, one of its highest honors, and was recognized as one of the best trial lawyers in Southern Illinois.
In 1927, he became a law partner with George R. Stone in the law firm of Stone and Fowler. Their office in the early days was located in Room 36 of the Marion State and Savings Bank. Rooms 34 and 35 were occupied by Gus’s attorney uncle, Richmond Roe Fowler.When the bank failed in 1930, the building was converted to the Hotel State and the firm of Stone and Fowler moved their offices to the Dunston building at 806 ½ Public Square.
After marrying, Gus and Thelma appear to have lived in his family home on Cherry Street with his widowed father until 1928 when they occupied their first home together at 611 Pleasant Court.
In the 1930 census, Gus was 29 years old and Thelma was 27, there were no children in their home at Pleasant Court. Gus listed his occupation as lawyer, general practice and valued his home at $6,000.
Fowler was active in many local and state affairs, having served as president of the Marion Township High School Board for seven years commencing in 1931; co-chairman of the Williamson County War Bond Sales Committee during World War II; a member of The Marion Carnegie Library Board for many years; a member of the Marion Lions Club since 1924, serving as their President in 1926-27 and was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Marion.
In the 1940 census, Gus was then 39 and Thelma 36. They valued their Pleasant Court home at $4,500 which they owned free of mortgage.
Marion citizens felt the need for an organized program for young people as early as 1944, when a volunteer group formed a council to provide youth activities and inherited a treasury of $144 from a now unknown group of individuals. This unofficial group of volunteers called themselves the City Recreation Council, and they numbered nine future-thinking civic leaders: Maree Cox, Mrs. Ernest Parks, Mrs. Clara Boatright, Frank Morrison, Floyd McMichael, Oscar Schafale, August Fowler, Fred Stotlar, and Rev. Harvey Zuern. This turned out to be the beginnings of the Marion Recreation Department.
In 1946, Gus’s father, John Vancleve Fowler, passed away.
After Fowler’s law partner, George Stone, died in December of 1951, he maintained the law office on his own until the late 1960’s when Fowler went into partnership with William J. Novick in the Fowler and Novick Law Firm. Stanley Narusis was an associate lawyer in the firm.
The law firm continued occupying the old office at 806 ½ Public Square until around 1975 when they moved to 300 N. Monroe Street where they remained until his retirement.
Between 1965 and 1970, Gus and Thelma moved from their Pleasant Court home to a new home located at 1912 Julianne Drive.
August L. “Gus” Fowler, age 96, of Marion, passed away Saturday November 29, 1997, at 3 p.m. in Parkway Manor of Marion. August and Thelma were celebrating their 73rd wedding anniversary this year.
He was survived by his wife Thelma of Marion and many cousins and friends. He was also preceded in death by his parents and one sister.
Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, December 2, 1997, in the Wilson Funeral Home of Marion, with Gordon Lambert officiating. The eulogy was given by James B. Bleyer. Interment was in Maplewood Cemetery, Marion alongside his parents and sister.
Pallbearers were William P. Novick, James B. Bleyer, Gordon Lambert, Robert H. Howerton, Larry Sanders and John Brewster.
Gus’s wife, Thelma, passed away in June of 2004.
(Data extracted from Marion Daily Republican obituaries; Federal Census Records; Marion City Cemetery Records; Marion Business and Street Directories; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 10/16/2013)