Etheen Lowry Death, Obituary –Etheen Lowry, a senior educator in the Catholic church who was also active in politics, passed yesterday at the age of 86. Etheen and her sister Barbara had just turned 14 when their mother passed away from a brain tumor in 1942. Etheen had been born in 1936. At the age of eight, she went to the Notre Dame Convent boarding school, where she completed her matriculation requirements. The following year, in 1953, she enrolled in the Johannesburg College of Education at the age of 17. The following year, she made the acquaintance of Donovan Lowry, whom she later wed in Cape Town at the age of 21, after having completed the requirements for her teaching certificate.
In the seven years leading up to 1964, they were blessed with the birth of four children. Alongside Donovan, she became a member of the Liberal Party and took part in Black Sash demonstrations. Following their relocation to Johannesburg, their previous home in Norwood was searched by the Security Police in 1962 and 1964. This was not the final instance of such a search, particularly in the 1980s. Every one of the events described above played a significant role in Etheen’s formative years as well as in her adult life. Her devastating loss of her mother at such a young age ignited her desire for family, which has always been her top priority in life.
Etheen has always credited the compassionate Sisters and the culture of Notre Dame Convent for instilling in her a deep faith in Catholicism, academic prowess, and independence of thought. She became involved in the SCS and NCFS while she was a student at the Johannesburg College of Education. These were local and national Catholic student organisations that shaped the spirituality and social consciousness of a great number of young activists in the 1950s.