JEAN E. MAY LOWMAN (published on August 22, 2008)
| JEAN E. MAY LOWMAN January 26, 1915 August 18, 2008. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother at Langley Gardens Retirement Community in Langley, BC on Monday, August 18, 2008. Jean was born Jean Wallace in Raymore, Saskatchewan, spent her childhood in nearby Punnichy and then moved to Swan River, Manitoba where her father, Samuel, owned the Red and White store. She spoke with great warmth of this period in her life. Hers was a true prairie upbringing surrounded by family - her brothers Hugh and Russell, her sister Margaret, and her parents, Susan and Samuel, and by schoolmates, some of whom would remain life-long friends. After graduating high school Jean moved to Winnipeg and trained as a Registered Nurse at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, a calling she would devote herself to both full and part time for many years. Jean met and married her beloved naval-officer husband, Jack Lowman, in 1942; the union would last their lifetimes. The couple had a son, Richard, in 1944. A daughter, Linda, followed in 1950. Following the war Jack worked as a sales representative for Swift's Meats in and around Winnipeg for over twenty years. He and Jean were a convivial couple and they loved social activity, including curling and bridge club and the wardroom sociability of HMCS Chippawa in downtown Winnipeg, and they surrounded themselves during this period with good and true friends; the friendships would in fact endure until the last. In 1968 Jean and Jack, never having forgotten the impact the West Coast made on them when Jack was stationed outside Victoria during the war, relocated to Vancouver where he and Jean started an insurance business and built it into a viable enterprise. In 1987 Jean and Jack retired and were then able to simply enjoy life and travel, and devote themselves to their family and extensive network of friendships, both old and new. Jean had a long, happy, fulfilling life and even at the end, contending with Jack's Alzheimer's and her own failing health, she never entirely lost the sparkle in her eye, her love of family, her zest for life, and her love of a good chuckle. She was a good and gentle soul, giving and caring and supportive, and she was loved by all who knew her; certainly by her family - her son Richard (Leona), her daughter, Linda (Fred) Bannon, her granddaughters, Mara (Gary) Brownie and Katy Bannon, and her great-granddaughter, Emily-Jean. A private Graveside Service will be held on August 27, 2008 with a family Memorial Service at a later date. FOREST LAWN FUNERAL HOME (604) 299-7720 |
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