Palestine High School Alumni Association

01 / 02 / 1876  –  03 / 24 / 1958

He was the son of Henry Bascom & Edwina Nelms (Reagan) Fowler and was born in Palestine. He received his name from Captain James Rees, a business associate of his father who operated four steamboats on the Trinity River.

He had two illustrious grandfathers, Andrew Jackson Fowler and the Honorable John Henninger Reagan. Godfrey Rees’ parents died when he was a very young boy and he and his sister, Edwina Reagan Fowler were reared by his father’s sister, Glen Dora and her husband James J. Arthur.

He graduated from Palestine High School in 1891, from Texas A&M in 1894 with a degree in Civil Engineering then a law degree from the University of Texas in 1897. Years later he received his Master’s degree and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

In 1897, G.R. Fowler began his law practice in Palestine, but this was short-lived because of the Spanish American War. He became a Captain of Company F, Thirty-third Infantry Regiment and remained in the Philippines until 1901.

He returned to Palestine and his law practice, and served in the Texas Legislature in 1903-04. He joined the Army in 1909 in Nicaragua and was made a General. When the Nicaraguan Army of Liberation succeeded in its task in 1910, he returned to Palestine. He served in France during World War I and at the time of his retirement in 1934, he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Godfrey Rees Fowler was married to Ella Sue McReynolds, daughter of Judge Zachariah Aycock McReynolds and Ella Sue Anderson, in Palestine, On December 18, 1910. Colonel Fowler and his wife lived in her old home place at 921 North Perry Street after he retired from military service. They traveled in the United States and Mexico, spending time studying, writing, and gardening when they were at home. They only had one son, Godfrey Arthur Fowler.

As per a pamphlet from Palestine Chamber of Commerce, written by Drew Franklin Davis, Chairman, Palestine Historical Preservation Commission, Unknown Date: The home that they owned at 921 North Perry Street was originally built by Judge Alexander E. McClure, one of the area’s most prominent lawyers, in 1849. The house was sold in 1884 to Zachariah Aycock McReynolds (1846-1928), father of Ella Sue McReynolds, who married Colonel Fowler. The couple retired to the home in 1934 after Zachariah Aycock McReynolds death. The house is still in the McReynolds Family.