After a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s Disease and cancer, the Rev.
William Roy Dowden went home to his Lord and Savior on Sept. 8, 2012. Brother Roy was born on Feb. 10, 1919, the third son of Ivy and Fanny Curtis Dowden. He was preceded in death by his father and mother; brothers Carl Dowden, Fern Dowden and Jean
Dowden, all of Louisiana; a sister, Lillian Dowden Stone, and son-in-law, David G. Hayley, both of Texas.
He is survived by his wife of 63+ years, Pauline “Polly” Polk Dowden,of Hornbeck; two daughters, Susan D. Dowden Hayley, also of
Hornbeck, and Jane E. Dowden Ellis and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, President of California Baptist University, of Riverside, Calif. He is also survived by two grandsons, Ashton Dowden Ellis, his wife Lauren Conner Ellis (of Lake
Charles), their three children, Charles Henry, Teresa “Tess” Mary and James Marion, of California, and Erik-Zachary Dowden Ellis, his wife Rebecca West Ellis, and their daughter, Elisabeth “Betty” of Catoosa, Okla. He is also survived by two sisters,
Mary Dowden Laurence of Anacoco and Marnee Dowden Williamson of Lake Charles.
Brother Dowden graduated from Kisatchie High School in 1935. He was attending Northwestern Normal College in Natchitoches when the outbreak of World War II
caused his National Guard unit to be called to active duty. He served in the Army in the Southern Pacific until the end of the war. He then returned to NW Normal and later transferred to SLI in Lafayette, where he received a BS in agriculture. He
received a MS in sociology from Stephen F. Austin, in Nacogdoches, Texas. He later attended Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and graduated with a Masters in divinity.
Upon graduation, he and Ms. Polly moved back to Louisiana
to pastor at the First Baptist Church of Athens, then Peniel Baptist Church in West Monroe and finally the First Baptist Church of Hornbeck. He was an interim and substitute pastor for many congregations until his second retirement. He also served on
the Louisiana Baptist Board of Trustees from 1975 to 1981.
A wake will be held from 5-8:30 p.m. on Sept. 12 at the First Baptist Church of Hornbeck. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Sept. 13 at the church. A graveside service
will follow at the Toro Cemetery in the Plainview Community in Sabine Parish.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Gideons International-www.gideons.org or to the Wounded Warrior Project-www.Wounded Warrior Project.com.
Online condolences may be made to the family at
www.warrenmeadows.com.