RALPH P. COWLEY JR.

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Ralph P. Cowley Jr., age 95, died on Tuesday, May 15 2018.

He was born on Sept. 28, 1922, in West Orange, New Jersey, a son of the late Ralph P. Cowley Sr. and Gladys Bleakley. Ralph served in the Army Air Corps' 351st Bomb Group in Polebrook, England, during World War II. He moved to Sumter in 1965 as part of the initial leadership team establishing Exide Battery, where he served as the plant production control manager. Legally blind since 1955 and eventually fully blind, Ralph had a passion for improving the lives of the blind and sight impaired, serving as past president of the National Federation of the Blind, Sumter Chapter. Ralph was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Sumter. His extensive volunteer service included the Boy Scouts of America, Elks Lodge, the American Legion and Tuomey Hospice.

Surviving are one son, retired U.S. Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer-5 Doug Cowley and his wife, Maribel Cruz Cowley; granddaughters, Celina, Kayla and Marisa Cowley of Cape Carteret, North Carolina, and Dawn Cowley of Marysville, California; and one brother, Robert Cowley of West Orange.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Carolyn Boykin Cowley; and two brothers, Earl and Raymond Cowley of West Orange.

Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Bullock Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Nick Cheek officiating. Burial will follow at Evergreen Memorial Park.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday at Bullock Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the National Federation of the Blind, Sumter Chapter, P.O. Box 641, Sumter, SC 29151.

You may go to www.bullockfuneralhome.com and sign the family's guest book.

The family has chosen Bullock Funeral Home for the arrangements.