Ушла из жизни Элли Лоури, директор школы Doyle Park, прослужившей 15 лет

Ellie Lowry, principal of Doyle Park Elementary School in Santa Rosa for 15 years during which the Sonoma Avenue campus was twice honored as Distinguished Elementary School, died July 23 after a brief illness. She was 89. Lowry, who helmed the school through a period of demographic transition and helped spearhead the construction of a new library after the campus was hit by vandals, was considered an advocate for education fundamentals and a champion for students spanning all socio-economic categories. Trained as both a classroom teacher and as a reading specialist, Lowry was firm in her commitment to building an educational foundation for every student, said her daughter, Cynthia Zundel of Granite Bay. “Until she passed away, she always believed in the fundamentals: Reading, writing and arithmetic,” Zundel said. “For kids to succeed, they really needed reading, writing and arithmetic – especially in elementary school.” Hired to lead Doyle Park in 1979, Lowry did a little bit of everything at the school, said daughter Stepi Nacouzi of Santa Rosa. “That was back in the day that the principal had to do everything,” she said. “If the kid had an issue, she had to drive to the house and pick him up and drive him home from school. Some of the kids had family situations and she would try to help out, whatever she needed to do. She was hands-on.” When vandals ruined the campus library in June 1994, destroying 4,000 books in the process, Lowry spearheaded rebuilding efforts. When a new library was opened in March 1995, Lowry tipped her hat to both the resilience of the school families and staff, as well as the generosity of the wider community. “I think that you were handed lemons here at Doyle Park last June,” she said. “You really made lemonade out of it. Lots and lots of it, too.” Born Sept. 24, 1936 in Nevada City, Elinore Ruth Johnson was the youngest of Marian and Hal Johnson’s three children. The family moved often to support Hal Johnson’s job as an electrical engineer – posts that included Alcatraz Island, gold mine substations and Honolulu. The family was living in Honolulu on Dec. 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Perhaps more vivid than memories of climbing a hill above Waikiki to see what was happening, Lowry recalled to family members that she saw reaction manifest in her father in a way that she never had before. “My mother, who was young at the time, remembers her father chewing gum, which she never saw before or since,” Nacouzi said. Her father was tasked with rehabilitating some damaged war ships, but the rest of the family moved back to the mainland in May 1942. From Reno, the family moved to San Jose, where Lowry became a decorated student at Abraham Lincoln High School. During summers, Lowry worked on orchards picking and pitting apricots. She also worked in a cannery, making fruit cocktail. “She had to drop two cherries into every can,” Nacouzi said. “On both sides of our family, work has always been very important,” Zundel said. After graduating from Lincoln High, she matriculated to Stanford University. It was there, as a freshman, that she met senior Wally Lowry. Upon Wally Lowry’s graduation, the pair were married – but not before Ellie Lowry promised her family that she would eventually get her degree. She did, and then some. Lowry earned a Bachelor of Arts at San Francisco State University and later earned two Masters degrees at Sonoma State University. She became a student teacher at Doyle Park in 1962, after which she taught at Mark West Elementary and Santa Rosa City School’s South Park School, the latter of which was shuttered in 1973, after which students were bused to Doyle Park. She worked as a reading specialist for Santa Rosa City Schools before being named principal at Doyle Park in 1979. She retired in the spring of 1994 but ended up staying on campus until the district found a replacement, Eileen Resnikoff. During her tenure, she advocated for the establishment of all-day kindergarten, telling a reporter in 1991: “Only when they cross the sidewalk and enter school can I control the environment. We have to spend a lot of kindergarten time now teaching them how to sit down and listen.” She also publicly advocated for more volunteers to spend time in schools, specifically Doyle Park. “We have a lot more children who have outside factors that affect their ability to learn in the classroom. (Volunteers) can make a difference,” she said to a reporter. “They don’t have to be a skilled or trained teacher. Just someone who can read to a child who many not have anybody at home who reads to them.” Doyle Park was the first Sonoma County Elementary School to twice earn Distinguished School honors. She was also credited, in Gaye LeBaron’s column in The Press Democrat, as being the first local school to launch the now ubiquitous “My child is an honor student” bumper stickers. Such was Lowry’s sense of humor, LeBaron wrote, that she greeted a car affixed with a different bumper sticker “My kid can beat up your honor student” with a chuckle. Lowry again made LeBaron’s column in 1980 when she found a bag of movie film outside of the Doyle Park campus. She took it home to watch. “I wanted to be sure it wasn’t X-rated,” she noted to LeBaron. It was not. It was home movies of birthday parties, Halloween costumes and the Cook Junior High marching band. In 1988, Lowry was named Administrator of the Year by the Sonoma County School Trustees Association. Lowry was credited with being one of the first female Rotarians in Santa Rosa, joining the West Santa Rosa Rotary Club and taking on duties to support youth and education programs within the club. She was a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Financial Reduction Contingency Planning for Santa Rosa City Schools in 1981, the Citizens Advisory Committee on Emergency Medical Services in 1987 and was a member of the Central Santa Rosa Community Association and moderated a candidate forum in 1988. She was also an officer for the local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional society for women educators. Travel enthusiasts, Ellie and Wally Lowry hosted a Royal Cruise tour of the Scandinavian capitals and Russia. Lowry was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Wally, in 2017. In addition to her daughters, she is survived by 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 at Faith Lutheran Church, 4930 Newanga Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95405. Donations in Lowry’s name may be made to the Wally & Ellie Lowry Accounting Scholarship at Sonoma State University. For more information, call 707-664-2712 or email [email protected]. You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or [email protected]. On Instagram @kerry.benefield. How to attend A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 at Faith Lutheran Church, 4930 Newanga Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95405. Donations in Lowry’s name may be made to the Wally & Ellie Lowry Accounting Scholarship at Sonoma State University. For more information, call 707-664-2712 or email [email protected].