Townes was born in Greenville, South Carolina and went to study at the Furman College, receiving bachelor's degrees in 1933 which included a BS in biology and BA in language.
In 1940 he received a fellowship to work at the Academy of Natural Sciences which resulted in a catalogue of Nearctic Ichneumonidae.
He then worked at the USDA in Washington and was appointed a specialist on Ichneumonidae following R. A. Cushman's retirement.
In 1949 he moved to become a faculty at the North Carolina State University where he worked till 1956.
His wife Marjorie Chapman also assisted him in his Hymenoptera studies and together they sampled widely using Malaise traps, made large collections and established the American Entomological Institute.