Joe Hornaday
Elizabeth and Floyd Lowe have traveled together, worked together and built a business together, all while laboring hand-in-hand for more than 70 years.
Floyd Lowe was born in Kentucky in 1918. His family moved to Aurora in 1920, where he lived with his parents for 20 years.
Eventually, he met Elizabeth, and the two were joined in marriage in the late 1930s. Ready to begin their lives together, the two moved to a farm in Greensburg.
Floyd Lowe reminisced about his very first car, a Model T Ford that his parents owned around 1930.
The Lowes worked on their farm for several years, before Floyd Lowe decided to build a feed mill and grain elevator business in the 1960s. He has since had to give up the business, which is now run by one of his sons. The establishment has remained a family business since its inception. Frequently, Floyd Lowe receives updates on the goings on and the day-to-day at the grain mill.
About a year ago, the Lowes made their home at the Morning Breeze retirement community. When they find time, their four children, one daughter and three sons, often visit Floyd and Elizabeth. Their names are David, Dale, Don and Doris.
“They’re the four D’s,” Elizabeth Lowe said.
Working the farm and helping out at the grain mill business was never too much for Elizabeth Lowe.
“Our work was our fun,” she said.
When the couple did find time to get away for awhile, once the kids were educated and the feed mill was built, they traveled in a motor home all over North America. Floyd Lowe noted that he and Elizabeth were both semi-retired when the motor home trips began.
Over the course of numerous trips, the Lowes journeyed to several places in Canada and Mexico. They toured all of the United States, including Alaska, with the exception of Hawaii, which could not be reached by driving.
“We had a favorite place in every state,” Elizabeth Lowe said.
Throughout their lives, Floyd and Elizabeth Lowe were very active in the Spring Hill Church. Both of them were Sunday School teachers for separate classes every week.
For more than 70 years, the two have remained committed to one another.
“I just tolerated him,” Elizabeth Lowe joked.
Floyd Lowe had a response to that. He said that he survived it by “being her servant.”
With their business ventures and vacations behind them, the Lowes are finally able to relax. Floyd spends a lot of his time playing games of euchre with friends, while Elizabeth passes the time by reading. Both of them enjoy the birds that visit their outside window now that spring is on the horizon.
“I think we’re good for each other,” Floyd Lowe said.
