Doctor's gift funds scholarships for veterans

Dr. John Bower, a Bedford native, has traveled the high seas in a U.S. Navy destroyer and was a leader in kidney disease research during his four-decade long career in medicine.

He is also building a philanthropic legacy in Central Virginia that includes the Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford and, most recently, a scholarship for military veterans at his alma mater, Lynchburg College announced in February.

Bower donated $250,000 to establish a scholarship for military veterans — the first of its kind at Lynchburg College. He plans to double his contribution if LC meets his challenge of raising an additional $250,000. The extra money would fund a veteran’s center at the college.

“We’re letting them (veterans) know we’re here to help them transition back to mainstream life,” Bower said.

Bower’s gift to Lynchburg College comes on the heels of a significant project to support the arts in Bedford.

In 2005, Bower bought a historic church built in 1880 on North Bridge Street, originally home to Bedford Christian Church, and established The Bower Center of the Arts in 2006 as a nonprofit that provides a visual and performing arts venue for area artists. The center honors his parents, Minnie, a registered nurse and an avid gardener, and Mitchell, a local businessman, former mayor and tenor in the Bedford Presbyterian Church Choir.

Bower’s early years were marked by academic struggle and a lack of direction.

He said he hit rock bottom while serving in the military, and it was afterward at Lynchburg College that he discovered his calling in medicine.

Before the Navy, he flunked out of Hampden-Sydney College, passing only one course: Bible 101.

“No one in the history of Hampden-Sydney had ever flunked Bible 101,” Bower said with a chuckle.

He joined the military after the Korean War broke out in 1950 and served for almost four years. Afterwards, he returned home to Bedford.

“I was scared to death. I didn’t know what my future held for me,” he said.

Bower decided to give college a second chance, this time at Lynchburg College.

He earned a business administration degree in 1957, but it was an undergraduate course in biology that steered him toward a career in medicine.

He moved to Mississippi in 1965, where he lives today, to collaborate with scientist Dr. Arthur Guyton in animal research in hypertension.

In 1973, Dr. Bower established Kidney Care Inc., a nonprofit that grew into 28 dialysis units in three states with more than 1,800 patients and 750 professional staff members. In 1996, Kidney Care merged with several other dialysis facilities to form a larger nonprofit.

He also spent 35 years teaching at the Department of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he trained more than 50 doctors in nephrology — the branch of medicine that deals with kidney functions and disease.

Through all his work, he never lost sight of his patients.

“You learn a respect for humanity and you never want to lose sight of that,” Bower said. “That’s been my guiding light.”