Richard B. (Dick) Lowe, 1929 – 2013, was born in Harvard, NE and grew up in northern Minnesota in the small town of Grand Marais. His father was a Congregational minister and his mother a school and music teacher. Dick attended Pillsbury Military Academy in southern Minnesota during his teenage years, where he was a fine student. He attended Carleton College in Northfield, MN, earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1952.
Dick married Margaret R. Olsen in 1951 and they honeymooned in Alaska and moved to Anchorage in 1952, where he served in the U.S. Army at Fort Richardson.
In 1954 the couple moved to Lansing, MI, where Dick attended Michigan State University to study hotel management. In 1957 they returned to Alaska, where Dick was hired as the front desk manager for the new Traveler’s Inn Hotel in Fairbanks by thenowner Wally Hickel. He was soon named manager of the hotel. In 1964, Dick moved to Anchorage to become resident manager of the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage upon its opening, and he served in that capacity for many years.
Dick was active with Rotary and was a member of both the Fairbanks and Anchorage Rotary clubs. He concluded his management career by working in construction camp management in rural Alaska. He retired to his beloved cabin at Blodgett Lake, near Wasilla, AK, with his companion, Alice Boston, where he lived until 2010. He then entered the Alaska Pioneer Home in Palmer and remained there until his death.
Dick was preceded in death by parents Wilfred Lawson Lowe and Ruth Warner Lowe and his wife, Betty.
He is survived by sons Timothy (Patricia), Culver City, CA., Daniel (Peggy), Salem, OR and daughter Mary (Jane), Minneapolis; grandchildren Ben, Andrew, Violet, Jullianna and Kelsey; and sisters Margaret Ludden, Mission Viejo, CA and Jeanette (Bob) Hulet, Maplewood, MN.
Dick was never happier than when sitting on his deck at Blodgett Lake, enjoying a sunny afternoon with his beloved dogs, Jean Paul and Mitzel. His family will remember him this way.
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