Wendell Bowes

       A. Wendell Bowes, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Northwest Nazarene University, died unexpectedly on February 4, 2023 at the age of 77.  He was born on Nov. 6, 1945 to Rev. Alpin and Betty Bowes who were pastoring a Nazarene church in San Francisco, CA.  They moved very shortly afterwards to the Kansas City area, where Wendell graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, KS.  He then attended Northwest Nazarene College (now University), graduating with a B.A. degree in 1967.  There he met his wife, Virginia “Ginger” (Miller) Bowes, and they were married shortly after graduation.  He attended Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO where he received the M.Div. degree, and then Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ, receiving a Th.M.  After seminary, he pastored three churches on the Philadelphia District of the Church of the Nazarene, where he was also ordained in 1973.  While pastoring, he began doctoral studies at Dropsie College in Philadelphia, PA.  He received his Ph.D. in 1987 with a major in Ancient Near Eastern Studies.

       In 1982, the family moved to Nampa, ID where Wendell became Professor of Old Testament at NNU for 29 years.  He also served as Chair of the Religion Department for eighteen years, Director of the M.Min. Program for eleven years, and Chair of the Faculty for two years.  He had an avid interest in biblical archaeology, participating in three digs in the country of Jordan and leading students on tours of the Middle East.  He lectured on archaeology and the Bible at NNU and in area churches.  After retiring from NNU in 2011, Wendell became very active in writing.  He wrote several book chapters and over twenty-five articles for Sunday School curriculum.  His full-length commentary on the book of Job was published in 2018 as a part of the New Beacon Bible Commentary series.  Since then, he has written two other books on the Wisdom Literature.  At the time of his death, he was working on a fourth book on preaching from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  Wendell and his wife were active members of College Church of the Nazarene in Nampa where he taught one of the adult Sunday School classes for seventeen years.

            Wendell is survived by his wife Virginia of 55 years; daughters, Heidi Bowes of Switzerland, and Shelley (John) Getty of Taft, CA; grandchildren Simon and Johonah Getty; brothers, Brad (Cindy) Bowes of Nampa, ID, and Ken Bowes of Nampa, ID.  

            A memorial service will be held at Nampa College Church on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.  The family suggests wearing a mask for the safety of all attendees. The family suggests that memorial contributions  be made in his memory to the Wendell & Virginia Bowes Ministerial Scholarship for graduate theology students at Northwest Nazarene University.  Checks made payable to Northwest Nazarene University can be mailed to the NNU Office of University Advancement, 623 S University Blvd, Nampa, ID 83686, or via their website www.nnu.edu/give.

The Memorial Service will be live streamed and the link for that will be: https://www.youtube.com/@nampacollegechurch1790/streams

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