Longtime Asheville media reform advocate, Wallace (Wally) Morning Bowen Jr. died Tuesday, November 17 at age 63 from complications from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), which he courageously battled for more than 5 years. In a career that spanned over 40 years, Wally was a leader in media reform and was recently honored at the 33rd Annual Everett C. Parker Lecture at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, DC. He received the Donald H. McGannon Award for his dedication to bringing modern telecommunications to low-income people in rural areas.
Wally was the only son of two children, born to the late Wallace Bowen and Mary Church Bowen. As a child his family lived in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a graduate of Andrew Jackson High School, Class of 1970. After high school, Wally attended Presbyterian College where he was the quarterback of his football team. After graduating from Presbyterian College, Wally attended Clemson University where he received his Masters in English. For many years, Wally worked in the field of Public Communications for Clemson University and later the University of North Carolina, Asheville.
Throughout his many years in his beloved city of Asheville, Wally began a long career in media advocacy. Wally was the founder and executive director of Citizens for Media Literacy which later became the Asheville nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN). He was a nationally-known advocate for local self-reliance and social capital formation via local ownership of media. He spoke on media reform at the Aspen Institute, all three National Media Reform Conferences, and at the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), the New America Foundation, and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications. In 2008, he was one of three media reform advocates featured in Google’s launch of a “Free the Airwaves” campaign for reform of U.S. spectrum policies. Wally was an early advocate of locally-owned “middle-mile” fiber networks, such as ERC Broadband and Pangaea, while representing western North Carolina on the N.C. Rural Internet Access Authority. He was also the author of “Local Network Cookbook” (2009).
He is survived by his son, Conor Bowen of Asheville, North Carolina, his daughter, June Claire Bowen of Asheville, NC and her mother, partner Carla Seidl of Asheville, North Carolina; sister Faith Thompson of Duluth, Georgia; niece Amy Thompson Peterzell of Atlanta, Georgia and nephew Alex Thompson of Charleston, South Carolina and their families.
A service will be held at Hillside Memorial Chapel in Clarkesville, Georgia on Saturday November 21 at 2:00 pm.
Interment will follow the service in Clarkesville Memorial Cemetery and the family will receive friends at the funeral home prior to the service on Saturday from 1-2 PM.
Memorial gifts can be made to: The ALS Association, Jim “Catfish” Hunter Chapter, 4 N. Blount St. Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27601 or online at www.ncals.org.
Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.hillsidememorialchapel.com.
