Helen Elizabeth Lowe
d. October 28, 2017
Helen Elizabeth Enochs Lowe passed away from this life on October 28, 2017 at age four score and seven years. She was born in St. Anthony’s Hospital to James Edmond Enochs and Willie Foster Enochs.
She attended River Road School and Amarillo High School before graduating from Dallas Methodist School of Nursing. She later received B.A. and M.A. degrees from West Texas State University.
She worked for Northwest Texas Hospital system for many years. Her last position was as Chief Administrator at Kilgore Children’s Hospital. She went on to join the Amarillo College ADN Nursing program, and taught mental health nursing for 10 years.
She married Horace Neal Lowe on Christmas Day, 1954 at San Jacinto Methodist Church. In 1957 they moved to Dallas, TX when Neal accepted a position there, but in 1961 they came back home to Amarillo and have lived here ever since.
Helen and Neal both retired from teaching at Amarillo College in 1992 and chose to explore their families’ genealogy. They spent many happy hours digging in archives and roaming old cemeteries. Helen joined the Daughters of the American Revolution and became registrar of the local chapter. She helped many women find a revolutionary ancestor that would allow them to join, also.
When Sister Olivia of the Sisters of Charity at Saint Anthony’s Hospital started to create a hospice unit, Helen was part of a group that went to England and Ireland to visit hospice units there to learn their philosophies and practices in order to assist in establishing a hospice in Amarillo. After hospice was operational, Sister Olivia identified a need for a fund to assist patients and their families with costs they couldn’t afford. Helen gave her the seed money for the fund called “Olivia’s Angels” and helped with fund-raising for many years. Sister Olivia always said that Helen was her first angel. Helen was privileged to be served during the days before her death by BSA/Hospice of the Southwest – the hospice that grew out of the original version, and was honored by them as the Volunteer Emeritus of 2017.
Helen was preceded in death by her son, Edwin Neal Lowe, and by many other beloved family members. She is survived by her husband Horace Neal Lowe, her daughter Lisa Reid of Santa Fe, daughter-in-law Linda Lowe of Albuquerque, granddaughters Alyssa Reid of Portland, Ivy Reid of Chicago, Lauren Lowe of Albuquerque, and Annslee Lowe of Albuquerque, and cousins Doris Kendrick of Friona, Lovera Mae Chesson of Orange, TX and Thelma McKusker of North Hollywood, CA.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to either The Bridge children’s advocacy program, Amarillo, or to Martha’s Home shelter and support for families experiencing domestic violence, Amarillo.
Graveside services will be 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 31, 2017 at Llano Cemetery. Memorial Services will be 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, in the Chapel of Polk Street Methodist Church with Rev. Dixie Robertson officiating. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home, 4100 S. Georgia, Amarillo, Texas 79110.