Jack W. Lowry

Jack William Lowry, 88, died August 13, 2020, after several bouts of pneumonia and a chronic case of senescence. Jack was born in 1932 to Helen and Julius Lowry of Kansas City, Missouri. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1940 and then to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1942, where he graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1950. He attended the University of Iowa and graduated from the College of Commerce in 1955. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and served as chapter president.

Jack was an enthusiastic, hard-working “people person” and loved making acquaintances, networking and helping others achieve their goals in life, thus it’s not surprising that he made his living in sales. Jack entered the insurance business in Des Moines, specializing in employee benefits, with the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. In 1956 he married the love of his life, Catherine “Sis” Griffith. The newlyweds were transferred to Miami, Florida in 1956 and to Kansas City in 1957. In 1961, Jack left C.G. and opened a new Kansas City office for the Bankers Life insurance Company of Des Moines, (later The Principal Financial Group), specializing in employee benefits and corporate retirement plans. After 33 years with Jack at the helm, his region grew to become one of the highest producing in the company, with offices in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Jack loved the insurance business and all the relationships he developed within the industry and with clients. Jack was a past president of the Kansas City and the State of Missouri Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA). He also served four years as a trustee on the national board of NAIFA, headquartered in Washington, D.C. He was on the founding board of the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) headquartered in Washington, D.C. He served as President of the Employee Benefit Professionals Association (EBPA) and as a founding member and president of the Heart of America Employee Benefit Conference (HAEBC). In 1992 he received the Herbert Hedges Insurance Industry Award and the State of Missouri Member of the Year Award.

In 1963 Jack and his young family moved into their freshly constructed Prairie Village house in a brand-new subdivision toward the south end of the suburbs, at 93rd and Mission Road. Jack later served as president of the Kenilworth Homes Association and then vice president of the Somerset Acres West Homes Association.

Jack was a long-time member of Curé of Ars Catholic Church and served as an usher and member of the parish golf tournament committee. He was a parent volunteer for Curé of Ars School and persuaded the cities of Leawood and Prairie Village to install a traffic light and pedestrian crosswalk on Mission Road after his daughter narrowly avoided being hit by a car walking home from school. Jack was a member of the Serra Club of Kansas City in Kansas and served as secretary and membership vice president.

Jack was an adult leader for the Boy Scout Troop at Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church. Despite his severe fear of snakes, he survived one tour of duty at Philmont Scout Ranch and several at Camp Naish. Jack was an ardent Kansas City Chiefs football fan, holding season tickets since the Dallas Texans came to town. Even in the coldest weather, he rarely missed a home game until he no longer could climb the stairs up and down to row 22.

After he retired from The Principal in 1994, a wide variety of interests occupied Jack’s time, especially friendships and travel. A group of seven high school buddies stayed close through college and their entire adulthoods, reuniting at various locales through the years, along with their wives. Regrettably, they agreed that their gathering in Des Moines, 2018, had to be their last.

In the 1990s into early ‘00s, Jack and Cathy had a home at the Lake of the Ozarks and they enjoyed fishing, boating and hosting friends and family, especially their grandchildren, Andy and Betsy Sundeen. Their cabin cruiser was named “401K.” Jack was a duffer who enjoyed swinging a golf club with friends and, at age 74, scored his second lifetime hole-in-one at WinterStone Golf Course in Independence, Missouri. A capable handyman, he assembled a number of furniture items and clocks from the Emperor Company. Even at the end, his nursing home nightstand contained a hammer and a can of WD40.

Maintaining a perfect yard was a favorite pursuit and point of pride for Jack and his bride, and together they cultivated many beautiful roses and juicy tomatoes. The two loved to travel together, summering in Colorado, visiting the tropics of Barbados and Mexico, touring Europe and Australia, and driving throughout the U.S. to see sights and acquaintances from Kansas to both coasts. On every step of their life journey, Jack cared for Cathy with never-ending devotion, and he insisted he could not rest until he had tucked her into bed each night. This August 4th they celebrated their 64th anniversary.

Jack’s favorite motto was “Get It Done” and one of his favorite songs was “I Did It My Way.”

Jack is survived by his wife, Cathy; his daughter, Ann Sundeen and husband, John, of Mission Hills, and their children Andy and Betsy; as well as his younger sister, Sandra Allen, and her husband, Bob, of Des Moines. Jack was preceded in death by a son, John, and daughter, JuIia.

A private service will take place. Arrangements by McGilley Memorial Chapel, State Line. In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions to the Seminarian Support Fund of the Serra Club in Kansas City of Kansas, or the John W. Lowry Enhancement in Physics scholarship fund at the University of Kansas, https://physics.ku.edu/giving.

The family extends sincere gratitude to all of the staff members at Jack’s residence since 2017, Claridge Court, and to aides from Thoughtful Care, especially Jack’s longtime caregiver and angel on earth, Charlotte.