Lowell Victor Fagen (2019)

FAGEN, FEITEIRA, GRANT, HANCOCK

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:04:36

Earlham Echo
Earlham, Iowa

Lowell Victor Fagen, 92, died peacefully March 9, 2019 following a stroke in Chandler, AZ, surrounded by family.

He was born Jan. 25, 1927 in Dawson, IA to Ivyl and Blanche Fagen, the second of two children after sister Laurene.

After Dawson High School graduation in 1944, Lowell attended Iowa State College, now Iowa State University, where he was a member of a championship ROTC rifle team, prior to joining the Marine Corps during World War II.

In 1945, he was selected to serve as chauffeur and bodyguard for General M. H. Silverthorn, then joined the Public Information Office at Fleet Marine Force Pacific at Pearl Harbor, serving as a combat correspondent and staff announcer at Armed Forces Radio WVTC.

Lowell begin competing in rifle matches in 1946, winning his first silver medal at the Pacific Division matches; and was on the team which won the San Diego Trophy Match.

At a First Methodist Church in Honolulu, Lowell spotted a “tall, gorgeous dark-haired gal coming down from the balcony.” It was “Piilani,” and their relationship blossomed. After Lowell’s release from active duty and return to Iowa, he romanced and proposed to Lani by mail and telephone, marrying August 5, 1950 in Berkeley, CA.

The newlyweds moved to Jefferson, IA where Lowell worked in farm machinery sales until he was recalled by the Marines in 1951. He was an instructor at Camp Pendleton, and later a Combat Correspondent in Korea, returning in time to qualify for a Marine team that competed in the 1951 National Rifle Matches, placing sixth in the National Individual and fourth in the Navy Cup Matches.

After returning again to civilian life, Lowell resumed a farming operation, growing corn and soybeans and raising sheep. He and others re-organized the Madison County Sheep Producers Association and he served three terms as president.

Lowell’s interest in soil conservation led to his being elected as a District Soil Commissioner in two Iowa counties. After Lani and Lowell bought their farm in Madison County, Lowell received a state award for installing modern conservation practices on a previously neglected farm, and was an early experimenter with minimum tillage techniques in crop production, now a common agricultural practice.

A licensed pilot, Lowell also joined Elliot Beechcraft Company as a part-time salesman and demonstration pilot during the ’60s. Lowell served 13 years on the Winterset-Madison County Airport Authority Board and was chair for eight years. He was also named to the Advisory Board on the Air and Transport Division of the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Lowell developed one of the larger sheep operations in the Midwest, co-chairing Iowa’s first major sheep educational expedition that featured speakers from several states. He was called on by Iowa State College to conduct various sheep production experiments, and was recognized as a Master Lamb Producer in 1980.

Most sheep producers were facing limited market outlets to profitability sell their lambs, so Lowell and Clark BreDahl, a close friend and leading sheep man, researched the problem a year, and were pioneers in developing an eventual five-state electronic marketing system for slaughter lambs, called Cornbelt Lamb Electronica Marketing Association, for which he was elected as first president of the association and co-authored the organization’s policies and procedures manual.
Lowell joined the Farm Bureau Insurance Company Winterset in 1959, which was the start of a two-part, 18-year career, with production that put him in the top 25% of the company’s sales teams.

Lowell then completed a Dale Carnegie course, and became an instructor and area manager, personally teaching more than 600 men and women for 11 years, until the extensive travel took its toll, and he left the organization to rejoin the Farm Bureau agency.

A man of many talents, experiences and multifaceted careers, Lowell often noted, “Retirement had never been in my long-range planning.”

Lani and Lowell moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1987 where he began another career in real estate, becoming involved with local and state industry activities, including revising contracts for the Arizona Association of Realtors; serving on the professionalism committee for Arizona Department of Real Estate; serving on the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ) On-Site Wastewater Advisory Committee (OWAC); and was a founding member of Arizona on-Site Wastewater Recycling Association (AZOWRA).

Lowell continued working for Red Arrow Real Estate in Prescott until age 91, when he and Lani moved to Chandler to be closer to family.

"I’m just a lucky old guy whose health has allowed me to have a full and most satisfying life.”

Those remembering and celebrating Lowell’s life include his wife of 68 years, Piilani “Lani” Norene Feiteira Fagen; four children: Loren Anthony Fagen of Sande, Norway; Laurie Napua Fagen (Hancock), Chandler, AZ; Lex Monroe Fagen (Ling), Shanghai, China; and Lee Marshall Fagen (Sally Grant), Berkeley, CA; grandchildren: Ryan Anthony Fagen, San Luis Obispo; Erin Fagen, Long Beach, CA; Shawn Anthony Fagen, Sande, Norway; Devon James Hancock, Tempe, AZ; Samuel Grant Fagen, Berkeley, CA; and Axel Victor Fagen, Shanghai, China.

Join the family in a Celebration of Life at 1 p.m. Friday, May 17 at the Prescott Valley Methodist Church, 8944 E Sommer Dr, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314, which will include a Marine Corps military honors service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project in Lowell’s name at WoundedWarriorProject.org. Send memories and condolences to sunrisefuneralhome.com.

Link to Memorial
 

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