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He saw wonders for a century By Paul Fattig When I first met him, he was outside his Ashland home sweeping cobwebs out from under the eaves. I figured there was no way that could be Don Lowe, the 102-year-old I had come to interview. After all, this guy had no cane, no walker, no wheelchair. He was energetically whacking away with the broom, not leaning on it. The fellow stopped his work to greet me with a vibrant voice and hearty handshake. "That�s me," he said, then, noticing my bum leg as he led the way into his house, asked, "You all right with these steps?" That was back in November 1999. A friend of his had called to say Lowe would be a great interview. He was right. After interviewing Lowe about playing football for Ashland High School back in 1915-17 and later about his survival of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, I was looking forward to talking to him about his experience as a World War I doughboy in France. Regrettably, I delayed the third interview. Lowe died Dec. 29 at age 103. A memorial service was held for him last week. My peers sometimes razz me about my fascination with those who are long both in the teeth and years. No apologies here. I�m a history buff. I figure no one can bring history to life like one who has experienced it. God knows Lowe witnessed wonders. He was also alert and articulate after more than a century of life. In fact, he lived by himself until a month before he died. When I first met him, he liked to read when he wasn�t puttering around in the yard. "I still get along," he said. Born Oct. 3, 1897, in Hopland Calif., near Ukiah, he was visiting San Francisco with his father when the monster quake shook the city on April 18, 1906. The two were sleeping in the third floor of the Palace Hotel when it struck at 5:13 a.m "Dad was a solid man � he didn�t frighten much," he said. "But it was scary. He got right out of that building." It took the Lowes, who had sold horses to the San Francisco Fire Department the day before, four days to make it back to their Hopland farm. "I can still remember the streets of Frisco terribly broken up and dead bodies and stuff laying around," he said. "It was a real bad time." The family moved to Ashland in 1909 where the only shaking earth he experienced was on the gridiron. "There were men going to high school back then who were 20 years and older," said Lowe who turned 20 his last year in school. "They could hit pretty hard." The thin leather helmet didn�t soften the blow all that much, he noted. "We used a big ball, about the size of a basketball, pretty near," he recalled. "But we had one fella from up on the Dead Indian Plateau � I�ve forgotten what his name was � that could throw that ball 50 yards." In the late spring of 1917, Lowe and 34 others from his class marched off to join the Army. Uncle Sam had just entered World War I. When Lowe died, he was the last surviving member of the First Company Oregon Coast Artillery, the Oregon National Guard unit whose duty it was to battle with heavy artillery in France. It was only when talking about Scotland-born Jacqueline Grace White, the woman he married in Seattle shortly after WWI, that his voice faltered. She died in 1993. "We lived together for 72 years and three months," he said softly. "She was a real lady." Lowe also retained a lifelong love of country. When Uncle Sam entered World War II, Lowe, at age 44, joined the Navy Seabees in 1941. He served in Okinawa, Iwo Jima and Saipan. "I was a good man at the time," he said of being fit. A logger between wars, he worked as an electrician after the second war until he retired. Lowe outlived all his childhood friends and nearly all his relatives, save two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Four siblings had already passed away. His only child, a daughter, died in 1981. Fortunately, he had friends like Roger and Lineke Ledbetter, neighbors who organized a 103rd birthday bash for Lowe last fall. They also visited him in the hospital during his final days. "It was his time to go," Roger said. "Don wasn�t the kind who would stay bedridden. He was too strong willed and independent." You can reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.