Lowry’s Mother Helen Dies At 82 In Olympia

Helen Lowry, the mother of Gov. Mike Lowry, died Wednesday night of kidney failure at her home in Olympia. She was 82.

The governor was with his mother when she died at 6:31 p.m., press secretary Jordan Dey said.

“My mother was a wonderful person who I loved very much,” Lowry said in prepared statement. “She was an excellent person, a loving mother, and I’m very grateful for the tremendous life she had.”

Helen Lowry spent much of her life in Eastern Washington.

She was born in the tiny farming community of St. John in Whitman County, where her family originally homesteaded in 1882. She married Robert M. Lowry in 1933, and they lived in Endicott.

While raising her three children, Lowry entered Washington State University at 47 and later graduated with an education degree. She taught for 10 years at LaCrosse School southwest of Endicott.

In 1976, she and her husband moved to Kettle Falls. He died in 1981. Helen Lowry moved in with the governor in 1993. She later entered the Olympics West retirement home in Tumwater.

When Mike Lowry announced he would not seek re-election this year, he said he wanted to spend more time with his ailing mother.

Funeral services will be Saturday in Spokane at a location to be announced.

Survivors include daughter Sue Ellen Lowry of Bethesda, Md.; sisters Jean Repp of Spokane and Edris Bonnadelli of Moscow, Idaho; and four grandchildren.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Gita Sitaramiah Staff writer The Associated Press contributed to this report.