Gordon Lowry 1918-2016
Gordon Kemmery Lowry, 98, Valley Falls, died Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, at Midland Care at Linwood Park Assisted Living in Valley Falls.
He was born July 25, 1918, in Meade, the son of James C. and Ruby E. Kemmery Lowry. He lived in Meade until moving to Topeka in 1934 and graduated from Topeka High School in 1936. He later graduated from Washburn Law School after World War II.
Mr. Lowry served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, leading boat groups during invasions in the Marshall Islands, Saipan, and Palau, and Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. He rose to the rank of First Lieutenant and received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. After the war, he opened a law office in Valley Falls in 1947 and practiced until 2005.
He was a member of the Jefferson County and American Bar Associations and served as President of the City Attorneys Association of Kansas, a member of the Valley Falls Rotary Club from 1947 until his death, a Paul Harris Fellow and Rotary District Governor in 1956-1957, sat on boards for the Jayhawk Area Council of Boy Scouts, the Washburn University Alumni Association, the Valley Falls Chamber of Commerce, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. He was a member of Valley Falls United Methodist Church.
He married Margaret Huffman on June 21, 1941. She died Aug. 31, 2014.
Survivors include two daughters, Susan Lowry, Toronto, Canada, and Lynne Lowry, Long Beach, Calif.; three sons, Gordon Kemmery Lowry Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii, James Corwin Lowry, Lenexa, and Stuart Scott Lowry, Hays; granddaughters Jaime McGinnis Lowry and Meghan Dorsey Lowry; grandsons Cameron K. Lowry, James Bryce Lowry, Gordon Connor Lowry, John Griffin Lowry, Jack Thompson-Sanker and Ryan Thompson-Sanker; and great-grandsons Skyler James Lowry and Duncan Sloan.
Memorial services will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Valley Falls United Methodist Church. Visitation will be held from 10:30 a.m. until service time in the church basement. Inurnment will be held at 2 p.. at the Valley Falls Cemetery with military honors conducted by Grahem-Herbers Post 3084 Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Memorial contributions may be made to Valley Falls United Methodist Church, Jefferson County Friends of Hospice or the Washburn Law School Foundation, sent in care of Mercer Funeral Home, P.O. Box 6, Valley Falls, KS 66088.
