Russell was the second son and youngest of three children of Gail Edwards Bowie and William Howard Bowie of San Antonio and Pipe Creek, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Cassandra; a son, Luke, and two siblings, Marie and Royce, and his father.

He attended school in Friendswood, Texas, where he was on the Academic Decathlon team which won the State Championship in the late nineties. In addition, he played Football at Friendswood High School. While in the Boy Scout environment, he achieved the Arrow of Light which was the highest award available to cub scouts.

Somewhere, somehow in his very busy life, he earned an associate degree from San Jacinto College in the Houston, Texas, rea. Russell was a renaissance man. He was an artist, a mechanic, an oil field worker, a world traveler to Europe and South America and a self-taught scientist who designed and built mass spectrometers for the oil drilling industry.

He had a heart of gold, which showed in his help and assistance for all friends and family members. On his trips to and from the oil fields, he would stop by Pipe Creek and help his father and aunt with anything they asked, for as long as he could — but after all, he did have his paying work, so that help time was limited by the necessity to provide for his family.

He was a big strong man who had the right stuff for this world, and we miss him terribly, but we take consolation and pride in the fact that our loss is heavens gain.

Funeral will be 11 a.m. Dec. 8, 2023, at Grimes Bandera Funeral Chapel in Bandera, Texas. Burial at Pipe Creek Cemetery to follow. Fellowship and light meal at Pipe Creek Presbyterian Church following cemetery service.