My mom, Betty Lowe, heard this poem recited the other day in Concord Center MA, at a remembrance ceremony for RBG. She could not help but recognize that this poem is perfect in honoring John as well.  Our Great One

When Great Trees Fall
By Maya Angelou

Today is Dad's birthday and with a tender heart I am sharing the story behind this image. 

When we had his celebration of life gathering, one of the rituals I thought of to offer our guests was to write a word on a stone that reminded them of John in any way.  I had collected many small polished stones with my twins the previous summer up in Maine so we naturally used those.  I noticed the glass vase was filling up with these word offerings throughout the ceremony.  I carefully transferred the vase home... where it sat on my mantel for many months with photos of 'Grampy' surrounding it, honoring him.  It wasn't until late fall that I was brave enough to read the words.  Such a gift.  Thank you to all who participated. 

In an effort to share the words with my mom, my siblings and loved ones, I had an idea to create a word image within the shape of his precious 'toy', his sailboat Synergy, a Cape Dory 330 sailing sloop.  Because of my busy schedule always~ working full time and caring for the twins~ I reached out to one of my high school students to help me with the modifications on photoshop.  I believe my dad would love the fact that one of my students helped me with this.  He was a natural-born teacher himself as anyone in our family can attest to; as well as he was the commanding teacher of the boating and sailing club the US Power Squadron.  His favorite topic to teach was celestial navigation.  At one point, he was teaching night classes at Lexington High School Community Ed~ space rented for the Power Squadron, and I was down the hall in my ceramics classroom at the time also teaching night classes for adults :).
I know he was proud of me for becoming a teacher.  He would assist me in my classroom in recent years, now that I am teaching darkroom photography~ on the days that I was introducing the logistics of film SLRs, he would come in to help, to assure we were getting around to all the students in one block to show them one-on-one how to use their camera.  He would also accompany us on field trips into the North End and Govt. Center to photograph!  My students loved him of course and would always ask when he would come back into the classroom.  Then, at the end of each school year, he would come in after school and help me go through all the cameras and make sure they were working and in good condition to sign out again in the fall.  Missing him dearly on so many levels.  

John and I met in the Air Force while stationed in Vermont. I was lucky enough to be able to spend 3 years with John, which created many great memories. We just developed a friendship and had many great times together. I was fortunate to visit  John and his family in the 70,s and spend the day visiting. About 5 years ago, my family where on vacation in Maine and I contacted John and he just happened to be in Maine with his family.  John and Betty came over and we had lunch together and talked about the good old days.  The next day John and I spent the day with him showing me his boat and showing me around the area. What a great time together.John was a great guy who will be missed by all.

"Rescued as Sea"

  "John Lowe" by John Simes