JACKSON, Miss. - Ellie Dahmer found little comfort in the death of the Ku Klux Klan leader who ordered the assassination of her husband, saying Samuel H. Bowers lived a much longer life than the man she married.

Former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan Samuel H. Bowers of Laurel, Miss., is escorted by lawmen from the Forrest County Courthouse, in Hattiesburg, Miss., in this Friday, Aug. 21,1998 file photo following his conviction on murder and arson charges stemming from the 1966 firebombing death of black Hattiesburg businessman Vernon Dahmer Sr. Bowers, who was serving a life sentence for the 1966 bombing death of the civil rights leader, died Sunday, Nov. 5, 2006 in a state penitentiary, officials said. He was 82. [AP]

Bowers, who was serving a life sentence for the 1966 bombing death of Vernon Dahmer Sr., died Sunday in a state penitentiary, officials said. He was 82.

"He was supposed to stay there until he died. I guess he fulfilled that," Ellie Dahmer, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "He lived a lot longer than Vernon Dahmer did."

Bowers died of cardio pulmonary arrest, said Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tara Booth.

Bowers was convicted in August of 1998 of ordering the hit on Dahmer, a civil rights activist in Mississippi's turbulent struggle over racial equality.

Dahmer's widow said the death brings little closure to a wound she has nursed for decades.

"It won't bring Vernon back," she said. "I lost a wonderful husband and my children lost a father. We lost a community leader. We lost a Christian man who saw good in people."

Dahmer was survived by eight children. His 77-year-old son, Vernon Dahmer Jr., said the family would not celebrate Bower's death.

"He caused a lot of pain, suffering and death for many innocent individuals and families of my race," Dahmer Jr. said. "During his life, he never apologized or asked forgiveness for his actions. Apparently, he felt justified for what he did to his many victims. Now that he has passed from this life, God will be the judge."

The Dahmer family awoke to honking horns in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 10, 1966. Two carloads of Klansmen were waiting outside their Hattiesburg-area home and firebombed Dahmer when he walked outside, according to court testimony during a four-day trial in Forrest County Circuit Court in 1998.

Dahmer was able keep the Klansmen at bay with a shotgun while his family fled, but flames had already seared his lungs and he died in his wife's arms about 12 hours later at the age of 58.

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