by Asia McClary

Joddie Butler Bowser was born December 14, 1887 in Terrell, North Carolina. He and his sister were raised by his parents Daniel and Annie Bowser.  Daniel Bowser was a mulatto man who was a farm laborer. His father did not have a long life, he passed away when he was 33 years old in 1888.

When Bowser registered for WWI in 1917, he wrote down that he would be responsible for his mother and sister when asked who was depending on him for help. During the war he was an engineer stationed at Camp Humphreys, VA. He was single during the war, until he met Julia Holland. Joddie and Julia got married in on November 30, 1918. They never had children, but their 11 year old niece Josephine stayed with them at their home in Norfolk, Virginia.

Bowser worked as a barber at barber shop called Berkley’s Shop in Norfolk before the war. By the time he registered for the draft for World War II he owned a barber shop or worked for himself, since the barber shop had the same address of his home at the time.

Joddie passed away on May 3, 1971 at the age 83 years old, he was taken to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hampton, Virginia. His cause of death was adenocarcinoma of sigmoid colon with post colostomy with many other complications. He is buried at Mount Olive Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.