Jo Bower

Jo Bower was born in Wichita, Kansas, but considers Oklahoma City, OK her home town. Her young life was spent living in small cities and towns in which the churches her father pastored were located. The rich cultures she lived in has left her fascinated by culture and people.

Her family lived in Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma. While pastoring in Alva, Okla her father returned to school at Northwestern University and studied history. The family moved to Oklahoma City as he began teaching at Southern Nazarene University. While teaching, her father earned a Master's degree in history and pursued a Phd at Oklahoma State University. The family had settled in Oklahoma City as she finished her education at Oklahoma Wesleyan University and Oklahoma State University.

After several years of teaching, her father entered the hospital chaplaincy at a local hospital.

Jo spent the next several years in Oklahoma City preparing for a profession. She met a young violinist who turned out to be the love of her life, and they spent their early married years there while her husband attended Southern Nazerane University.

Jo worked in the admitting office of the the same hospital her father worked at, and that job began a series of medical related jobs that taught her the attitudes and basic vocabulary of that profession. This exposure shows up in her fiction periodically.

After college, the Bowers moved to Dallas, TX to continue her husband's education at Perkins Seminary of Southern Methodist University.

Jo is a writer who started professional life wanting to be an improvisational sacred concert pianist. That didn't seem to be where she belonged, and she and her husband, the violinist, entered the pastorate after he graduated.

Monty and Jo pastored in Oklahoma,Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Louisanna. As a pastor's wife, Jo found an outlet for her music while giving her the freedom to pursue creative writing, writing for hire, and publishing. The last ten years before retirement she volunteered at the hospice where her husband was the chaplain. She also played piano professionally for a funeral home. Upon retirement, they returned to Monty's home in Midwest City, Okla.

Jo continues to write. She also shares her music as a church pianist and organist. God remains faithful and active in her life.