Remembering Jim Bowsher

Jim Bowsher, the creator of the Temple of Tolerance in Wapakoneta, Ohio, was a man of many interests, talents, and friends. After hearing of his passing on June 12, 2024, we reached out to several of these friends – who are also friends of SPACES – to learn more about what made his life and work so special.

Steve Plattner

The small city of Wapakoneta, Ohio, produced two particularly unique Americans: Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, and the equally remarkable Jim Bowsher (1948-2024).  

Fortunately for all of us, Jim Bowsher chose to keep both feet firmly planted on this earth where he selflessly shared his love for humanity together with his boundless skills as a historian, a visionary artist, and a masterful storyteller. His Temple of Tolerance, in the backyard of his boyhood home where he lived among thousands of significant historical artifacts he collected, is a masterpiece unlike anything I have ever experienced. 

Jim will always be one of my favorite photographic subjects. His curiosity and energy were infectious. He possessed an uncanny ability to understand what I was trying to accomplish—perhaps better than I did. I will miss his wide smile, powerful voice and laughter, his insatiable curiosity, and the love he gave to all of us.

 Photo: Steve Plattner, 2023

Fred Scruton

In 2005 I came to Wapakoneta unannounced and was out in back photographing the Temple of Tolerance when Jim came up to meet this unexpected photographer under a black cloth behind a huge 8x10 inch plate camera. I was a little nervous that he might not appreciate my uninvited intrusion, but Jim was as friendly, curious, and open as he would always prove to be. He was on his way out, and after our brief introductions, he asked if I would like to see and photograph inside the house. I said for sure, and asked if he knew about when he would be back. He said it would be a few hours, then handing me the house keys, he explained how to work the locks and what to do if I was ready to leave before he returned. During my next visit to Wapakoneta, Jim recalled being amused by my surprised facial expression, and said he ‘knew’ this stranger was only interested in taking away pictures.

Once he brought out vintage, sepia-colored family portrait photographs of siblings showing boys wearing dresses. Jim explained that the parents were protecting their sons: according to country folk lore, the devil in the woods never kidnaped girls. 

Wapakoneta is home to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum, and Jim would periodically bring up its native son Neil Armstrong (the first person to walk on the moon) in conversation. I always thought that given Jim’s wide-ranging intellectual and collecting interests in everything from the natural world to science, history, and human behavior, he felt especially at home in Wapakoneta – where there’s a history and daily reminder of transcendence in the human spirit.

Photo: Fred Scruton

Larry Harris

Although I haven't visited Jim in person in many years, we did keep in touch with phone conversations. (Jim, being Jim, never succumbed to email, texting, or social media.) Whenever I called him up, I always had to plan ahead by blocking out at least an hour for our conversations. When that hour-plus passed and I had to wrap up the conversation, Jim would always add "just one more story" followed by "one more quick story."

Our last two phone conversations, just a few weeks before he passed and the month before that, were totally free from profound subject matter – no eternal wisdom and definitely no meaning of life. It was basically the inane banter and jokes of two 12-year-olds. All was laughter.

Jim B. will be missed.

Photo: Larry Harris, 2003

Header image: Fred Scruton