Taylor Funeral Home

Obituaries
James Parker Cowell
Date of Death or Service Jan 1, 2012
Mr. James Parker 'Jim' Cowell, age 84 of Kingston Springs, died Sunday, January 1, 2012 at the Sarah Cannon Institute of Centennial Medical Center. Visitation and prayer services for James Parker 'Jim' Cowell, age 84 of Kingston Springs was held at 7:30pm Thursday, January 5, 2012 from the chapel of Taylor Funeral Home with Bro. Erskine Bice officiating. Interment with full military honors was held at the Middle Tennessee Veteran�s Cemetery near Pegram. He was born in Manchester, New Hampshire to the late Sidney A. and Ola M. Geilear Cowell, formerly of South Kingston, New Hampshire. He graduated from Haverhill High School in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1945. After he enlisted in the United States Navy, he married the former Phyllis Feodosia Scherbon in July 1949. During his Navy enlisted period of fourteen years, he served on the USS Endymior, USS Revenge, USS Hambleton, and USS Gwinn. Following those shipboard assignments, in 1955 he qualified for the Navy�s first nuclear powered surface ship training program at the National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho Falls, Idaho. In 1960 he boarded USS Hermitage as damage control assistant, ballasting and repair officer, making multiple deployments inclusive of the civil war uprising in Africa�s Belgian Congo. Cowell was later assigned to shore duty at Commander Service Forces, Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia as a Type Desk Officer for various classes of ships with responsibilities of their operational, readiness, repair and upkeep, alterations, shipyard overhauls, and voyage repairs inclusive of the necessary funding arrangements to accomplish. During that shore assignment, he served on a Temporary Selection Board in Washington, DC, choosing eligible Senior Petty Officers for the Navy�s Warrant Officer Program. His last shipboard duty was aboard USS America as Repair Officer, Fire Marshal, and Gas Freeing Engineer with a major deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin for carrier air support during the Vietnam War. His final naval service assignment was to the sub-board of Inspection and Survey, Atlantic, Little Creek, Virginia conducting contractor�s sea and acceptance trials for new construction vessels. Cowell retired from the U. S. Navy in 1970 with over 25 years of service and where he attained rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was employed for the next five years with Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Virginia as a member of the Quality Inspection Department, refueling atomic submarines and aircraft carriers. After relocating to Tennessee he was employed by State Industries, Inc., Ashland City, TN for 12 years in the engineering and maintenance departments prior to vocationally retiring in 1989. He was a life member of the Military Officers Assn. of America, the Fleet Reserve Assn., the National Rifle Assn. and also a current member of the American Legion. He was Past Master of White Bluff Lodge #676, FandAM and a member of the Order of Eastern Star. Survivors include his wife of more than 62 years, Phyllis Cowell, Kingston Springs; four children, Cheryl L. Payne, Bruce V. Cowell, Michelle L. Burge, all of Kingston Springs, and David P. Cowell, Aztec, NM; eight grandchildren; several great grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.
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