Clarence P. "Butch" Bowser, 68, of 2 Old Middlesex Road, Mercer, East Lackawannock Township, died at 7:30 a.m. Friday in Select Specialty Care Hospital in Erie following an illness.

Born July 30, 1937, in Butler, he was the son of the late Paul and Helen Ruth Hutchison Bowser.

He attended Bethany Presbyterian Church in Mercer.

He was retired from Cooper Energy Services of Grove City, where he was a crane operator for 30 years.

He was a member of the American Legion Post of Mercer. He served with the U.S. Marine Corps underwater demolition team.

He enjoyed car shows and he raced pigeons.

Surviving are a stepson, Paul E. McKee and his wife, Patricia, of Laurel, Md.; two sisters, Becky Stodish and her husband, Thomas, and Joan Mare and her husband John, all of Butler; four grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; a great-great-grandchild; 11 nieces and nephews; and 32 great nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Bertha Hoffman, whom he married April 2, 1960, and who died Oct. 23, 2003; and a sister, Dorothy Jean Hempfling.

<B>BOWSER</B> — Friends of Clarence P. "Butch" Bowser, who died Friday, July 28, 2006, will be received from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday and 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday in the <B>Cunningham Funeral Home</B>, 306 Bessemer Ave., Grove City.Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the funeral home with the Rev. August Hurst, of the Bethany Presbyterian Church, officiating.Burial will be in the Crestview Memorial Park.