08/25/2026
In Loving Memory of Richard Fowler
The FACES family is deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend, colleague, and mentor, Richard Fowler.
For more than 22 years, Richard was an important part of the FACES family. Beginning in February 2003, he served as our Foreign Language Coordinator, dedicating himself to ensuring that the international language teachers who came through our program met the highest standards. But to describe Richard only by his title would leave out so much of who he was and what he meant to us.
Richard was, above all, a teacher.
For more than 60 years, he taught French and ESOL in classrooms that stretched across France, Asia and the US.
Teaching was not simply his profession. It was part of who he was. He believed deeply in education, in language, in culture, and in the extraordinary things that can happen when people from different parts of the world learn from one another.
That made Richard a natural fit for FACES.
Over the years, he observed, guided, encouraged, and mentored countless international teachers. He understood what it meant to teach in another country because he had lived it himself. He knew that a teacher arriving in a new place needed more than someone evaluating a lesson. They needed someone who understood the courage it took to be there. Richard gave them that.
We spent hours driving around the state, visiting teachers (and never with a GPS because he knew all the roads). Those drives were never quiet, and they were certainly never boring.
Richard had a story for everything.
France, history, literature, art, classical music, geography, food, travel, languages. You could bring up almost any subject connected to culture or beauty, and Richard knew something about it. Usually, he knew a lot about it. He was our walking encyclopedia, but what made him special was the way he shared what he knew. There was no arrogance in his knowledge. There was curiosity, enthusiasm, humor, and a genuine desire to share something wonderful with you.
And if the conversation turned to France, you knew you were going to be there for a while.
Richard was a true Francophile. He loved the French language, French music, French food, its history and its people. He didn’t simply study France. He carried a piece of it with him. Through the tours he led, he had the opportunity to share that love with others, showing people the places and culture that had meant so much to him throughout his life.
Richard was also a reader, a historian and a writer. The books he leaves behind are another reflection of a mind that never stopped learning. He wrote about South Carolina history, including Beaverdam Creek and Henry and John Laurens: Tragic Heroes. He also wrote several other books and served as editor of the Discovering Laurens County book series. Even outside FACES, he continued teaching, including sharing his knowledge of South Carolina’s colonial history through the Laurens County Museum.
And then there was his bicycle.
Richard loved to ride. There is something about that image that feels especially fitting for him: moving forward, taking in the world around him, always curious about what was around.
Richard was wise without ever needing to remind you that he was wise. He was generous with his time and his knowledge. He was someone you could learn from simply by being around him. For so many of us at FACES, he wasn’t just a colleague. He was a mentor.
Twenty-two years is a tremendous portion of the life of an organization. Richard helped shape FACES. He helped us maintain high standards, but more importantly, he helped us remember the human side of what we do. Behind every application and every classroom observation is a teacher who has crossed an ocean, entered a different culture, and chosen to share a piece of his or her world with South Carolina students. Richard understood the beauty of that exchange perhaps better than anyone.
There are teachers across South Carolina whose lives and careers are different because Richard Fowler crossed their path. There are students who were taught by teachers he encouraged and mentored. His influence extends much farther than any of us will ever be able to measure.
The FACES family is poorer today because we have lost him.
But we are also immeasurably richer because we had him for 22 years.
We like to think that somewhere, Richard has found a beautiful road and a bicycle waiting for him. There is classical music playing. There are shelves and shelves of books he finally has enough time to read. There is good French food nearby, plenty of stories still waiting to be written, and perhaps even a classroom where he can continue doing what he spent more than six decades doing so well: teaching others to love languages, cultures, history, and the enormous world beyond their own doorstep.
Richard, thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for every teacher you encouraged, every lesson you taught, every mile traveled on behalf of FACES, and every conversation that left us knowing something we didn’t know before.
Most of all, thank you for being our teacher, too.
You will be deeply missed, and you will always be part of the FACES family. 🖤🪽💔
