William Brower, 89 William Brower, 89, a retired professor of speech communications at Princeton Theological Seminary, died Wednesday, January 20, 2016, in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was born in 1926. Brower lived in the Princeton area for 55 years,and in 2009 moved to Piqua, Ohio, and shared residence with Blount Springs, Alabama. His mother, an opera singer, and his father, a trial lawyer and Alabama state senator, both encouraged him to become an actor. When William was eight, the family moved to New York, where his father served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General. In his school years, Brower continued to aim for a career in acting. During World War II, he joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and enrolled at the University of Virginia, where he received both his undergraduate degree and his U.S. Navy commission in the fall of 1945. He was stationed until late 1946 in the Philippines, serving as a commander of amphibious vessels operating out of bases in Batangas, Manila, and Subic Bay. In 1946, Brower began a career as a professional actor and worked in several Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. In the 1950s, his career extended to television, and he appeared on such major programs asStudio One, The Ford Theatre Hour, Kraft Theatre, Nash Airflyte Theatre, and The Big Story. William earned his graduate degree at Teachers College of Columbia University in 1952 and two years later accepted an offer to teach at Princeton Theological Seminary,where he taught courses in speech and oral interpretation and directed numerous plays, retiring in 1993. Brower was called back as a visiting lecturer and taught until 2008, an active span of 54 years, one of the longest in the history of the institution. One of Brower’s tasks at the Seminary was to hear and give critiques of students’ sermons. A colleague, knowing of Brower’s unorthodox religious views, once remarked, “Brower, in the history of the church, many times has one preacher preached to thousands of heretics, but your career is the first example of thousands of preachers preaching to the same heretic!” Brower gave many concert readings of short stories and was known for his interpretations of poetry, especially the works of Robert Frost. William was predeceased by his parents, Walter Scott and Elizabeth (Jordan) Brower; his wife of 59 years, Elaine (Yuenger) Brower; and one brother. Survivors include his wife Noralie McCoy Brower; three sons, Walter (Elizabeth Nicholls) of Birmingham, Dana of Boulder, Colorado, and Raymond (Julia Farrall) of Denver; two stepdaughters, Shawna (James) Hite of Brentwood, Tennessee, and Raena (John Scott) Sherrill of Nashville;and two grandchildren, Lucy and Charles.
