Edwin F & Mary Ellen Lowndes

LOWNDES PATTEN BAUER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 9/21/2010 at 18:18:46

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Edwin F and Mary Ellen Lowndes
By Mary Ellen Bauer Lowndes

Edwin Francis Lowndes was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa. He is the surviving twin born October 3, 1918, at Maternity Hospital, Court St., Sioux City, to Edwin Leonard and Mary Rose (Patten) Lowndes of Sioux City. The second twin, Joseph, died at three days of age. Edwin Francis Lowndes attended St Boniface grade school and Central High’s ‘Castle on the Hill’. He received his surveyor’s license from the Iowa Board of Engineering Examiners, Ames, Iowa, in March 1951.

Ed started working for the Woodbury County Engineer Highway Department in 1938 and remained in their employ until his retirement in 1980. During these (42) years Ed supervised and was a part of building over (300) three hundred miles of asphalt and concrete paving hundreds of culverts and bridges. He remembers the change of the Board of Supervisors being elected by districts to elected ‘at large’, (to represent all the county). Ed worked under three county engineers, Mr J C McLean, Mr Clair Davis and the present Engineer, Mr Lloyd Kallsen, between 1938 and 1980.

In 1941, during World War II, Ed took a leave of absence from his job with the county as a rodman for the Highway Department, and enlisted in the U S Coast Guard. While stationed in Seattle he met and married Mary Ellen Bauer, at the St James Cathedral, Seattle, Washington, in 1943. Ed then served as a boatswain mate on a Coast Guard patrol 38 foot boat in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was here in Alaska, that Ed was befriended by Mr and Mrs Elliott and Ed lived ‘off base’ in their home. While Ed was stationed in Ketchikan, the first of his six children was born.

Robert Daniel Lowndes’ birth was a very special event in the lives of all, but especially significant to the Lowndes family heritage for this was the first child to be born in the Lowndes family in over 19 years! Robert attended St Boniface Catholic Grade School, Cresent Park, West Jr, and graduated from Heelan High, then he went on to get a Degree as a civil engineer form Iowa State University, Ames. Robert Daniel Lowndes now resides in Overland Park, Kansas, with his wife, Teri (Maureen Colbert), and three sons, Michael Reid, Patrick Allan, and Andrew Leonard. Robert is employed by Black & Veatch, Consulting Engineers.

Ed and Mary’s second son, Gerald Thomas, was born in Sioux City, Iowa, May 19, 1946. He attended St Boniface School, graduated from Heelan, and spent two years at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. He married Marge (Margaret Ellen) Meyer; they have four children: Timothy James, Theodore Raymond, Molly Marie, and Scott Edwin. Jerry owned and operated a craft store in Sioux City, called ‘American Handcrafts’, in the 60’s. After about five years, Tandy Corporation bought out Jerry’s interest in the shop, and he and Marge then bought a small children’s clothing shop called ‘Where Kids Shop’ located on Nebraska Street. In 1981, Jerry and Marge sold ‘Where Kids Shop’ and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to join the Bonanza Steak House family. This is their present residence.

Mary Ann (Lowndes) Fekany is the eldest daughter of Edwin F and Mary Ellen. She attended St Boniface School, Smith School, and graduated form Heelan. She met Samir Fekany while he was visiting Sioux City, and the two were married at St Boniface Church in 1970. Samir was born in Suez, Egypt, and came to the U S when he was 15 years old, in 1955. He became and American Citizen in 1972. Samir’s way to announce his new citizenship was to whistle ‘I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy’ to the family. May Ann and Samir have three children, Nadia Therese, Julie Ann, and Daniel James. They live in Winter Springs, Florida.

Catherine Ellen (Lowndes) Sappingfield, the fourth child of Edwin F and Mary Ellen, was born in Stillwater, Minnesota, August 28, 1949. Her parents were spending the summer with Cathy’s maternal grandparents, Mr and Mrs E C Bauer. Cathy attended St Boniface, Smith, and Heelan Schools, then went into nurses’ training at St Vincent’s Hospital and Briar Cliff College. While she was employed in the maternity department of St Vincent’s Hospital, she assisted in the birth of four nieces and nephews. Cathy also worked for the Siouxland Blood Bank before moving, in September of 1983, to Kansas City, Missouri, to accept a similar position position there. She and her husband, Lee Sappingfield, have two children, Lee Taylor, and Monica Ellen.

Teresa Marie (Lowndes) Brucker was born June 16, 1955, in Sioux City, Iowa. She also attended St Boniface, Smith School, and Heelan. In the early 60’s, she became quite an accomplished ballet dancer, studying at Shirley’s Dance Studio in Sioux City. Teresa danced in the first Christmas production of ‘The Nutcracker Suite’, at Morningside College, in the mid 60’s. She and her husband, Fred W Brucker, and son, David William, live in the Morningside area of Sioux City.

James Edwin Lowndes, the youngest child of Edwin and Mary Ellen, was born September 11, 1958, in Sioux City. He is quite an accomplished trumpet player, and was privileged to accompany the East High band to New Orleans in the mid 70’s for the Mardi Gras parade. Jim graduated from Iowa State University in 1980 as a field and construction engineer. He is presently living in McPherson, Kansas, employed by Ford, Bacon & Davis Construction Engineering Company.

Mary Ellen (Bauer) Lowndes, wife of Edwin Francis, was born December 12, 1921, in Barnesville, Minnesota. Her parents, Edwin Casper Bauer and Monica Ethel Mallinger, had four children, Edwin Thomas, Mary Ellen Lowndes, Daniel Adolph, and JoAnn Hayer. They lived to see 24 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren. Mary Ellen’s grandparents were Joseph and Bertha (Babpts) Bauer, and Peter and Mary Ellen (McDunn) Mallinger. Mary Ellen lived most of her childhood in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St Paul, and studied art at St Joseph’s Academy in St Paul. A painting of hers titled ‘Four Faces of Eve’ was presented to Hubert H Humphrey during his campaign tour to Sioux City in 1964. It is presently in the possession of Rev James Conners, Seattle, Washington, a long-time friend of Edwin and Mary Ellen. Another of her oil paintings, ‘St Ignatius Loyola, Biography in Oil’, was presented to the Jesuit Order of the Seattle University, Seattle, Washington. In 1965, Mary Ellen was also sponsor of an Art Exhibit in the Woodbury County Court House, Sioux City Iowa, for all Woodbury County artists. This exhibit was very successful and many paintings of local artists were sold or commissioned because of the exposure of their works.

Edwin and Mary Ellen Lowndes presently reside in Winter Spring, Florida, retired and praying God will bless our future generations.