Bill Cowley, a retired missionary and Samford University professor, died April 12. He was 92.
Cowley and his wife, Audrey, served as International Mission Board missionaries in Nigeria for 23 years. The couple was assigned to Nigeria in 1955 to help start schools in anticipation of the nation’s independence in 1960.
They later risked their lives to help the Nigerians they served during a horrific genocide in September 1966 that ended with as many as 50,000 Igbo tribe members murdered. Their story is included in a documentary called “The Disturbances” released by the Baptist Center for Ethics in 2016.
Alabama involvement
After returning to Alabama in 1977, Cowley began a 16-year tenure on the Samford religion and speech faculty. His wife served as the campus minister at Jefferson State Community College, and in 1979, she became treasurer of national Woman’s Missionary Union. The Bill and Audrey Cowley MK Scholarship was named in their honor in 2014.
The two were longtime members of Shades Crest Baptist Church in Bluff Park.
Cowley is preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, who died in December 2020. He is survived by his daughters, Carol and Karen, along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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