A “fitting and proper” tribute to Joe Bowser would [and should] be quite lengthy, and include the many details and aspects of his life, and for my part, would recount many trips to “search and research” our family connections to the Civil War, countless trips to Gettysburg, and one especially memorable trip to the Antietam Battlefield to witness the Illumination of that hallowed ground…words cannot describe the site of over 23,000 luminaries, each one representing a life lost in a twelve-hour span of time, casting their light over the field blanketed in fourteen inches of fresh snow…

But as for his life relating to the 62nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Living History Family, and why I post this here, it’s quite simple…for all of my interest, involvement and interaction with the 62nd PVI LHF in the last twenty-five years, and any impact I may have had as a member and officer during that time, I owe it almost entirely to my Uncle Joe…

Probably without intent, and possibly without knowing it, he changed the course of my life, at a time when my life needed a change…what began as a mild interest in the Civil war and Gettysburg as a photographer, turned into what seems like a lifetime of “living history”…through his persistence in his genealogical research of our family, together we discovered many ties, and became personally attached to some of them, especially that of First Sergeant Daniel Warren Swigart, who served in the 62nd PVI…it was that connection that almost instantly moved me to join the 62nd family, which already included several dear friends and co-workers…

The rest truly is “history”…my wife and I, as well as our two grandchildren, have been members of a true family of friends and fellow historians, that reaches far and wide, and have also met many other descendants of 62nd volunteers, none of which would have been possible without “my Civil War Uncle”, Joe Bowser…

I was honored to walk in the footsteps of our ancestors with a man they said “would probably never walk again” following his work-related accident…he was a humble descendant, and so am I…

Thank you Joe…we will walk together again some day soon!

Slim