Janet Lynn Lowe

1944 - 2024

Janet Lynn Lowe

November 24, 1944 - December 12, 2024

Janet (Jan) Lynn Lowe was born in Billings, MT on November 24, 1944, shortly after her parents, Robert and Lillian Tirrell, relocated to Billings for Robert to take the position of business manager at the then very new Billings Clinic. Jan enjoyed the spoils of growing up in an idyllic era when TV was just becoming popular. The rules of the house were to be home for dinner and after that, be back before dark. And so, together with older brother, Bob, and younger sister, Norma, Jan spent most afternoons after school and evenings after dinner out playing with neighborhood kids near their home on Juniper Drive. When her dad brought home their first television, Jan and Norma would turn it on after school and watch the test screen until programming started. Once it did, their favorite shows were Wyatt Earp, Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey.

Janet graduated from Billings Senior High School in 1963 and went on to attend the University of Denver where she earned a degree in English and met Jim Lowe, who also happened to be from Billings. Despite coming from the same town and both attending Billings Senior at the same time, the two only knew each other vaguely from a distance. Jan was busy with majorettes and friends. Jim occupied his time with fast cars. "I always thought he was a hood," were her words. It'd take a few years of dating and a degree in Business Administration for Jim to convince her otherwise. They would return to Billings where they married in 1967.

Jan was an unmatched homemaker with the gift of hospitality. Her house was always ready for company; always picked up, straightened up, dusted and the carpet left looking like the turf at Fenway with vacuum patterns. She usually kept this up while working full or part-time jobs. She granted her children, Rob, Misty and Brad the same latch-key freedoms of her youth, only requiring them to come home once darkness fell. As time's worn on, they've become certain that liberty was granted primarily so they'd go make a mess outside or over at someone else's house.

Though in its impeccable order, Jan kept a warm and loving home. She invited friends and family over often for large dinners where she'd serve a gourmet caliber meal with grace while mingling and talking with everyone around. Holding certain traditions like the Tirrell Thanksgiving at the Ranch and Christmas with the Lowe's as hallowed events, we got to know our extended family on both sides and are blessed by the lasting relationships born from these gatherings.

Jan kept an active social life. She loved being with friends. She and Jim would get together monthly with three other couples for dinner and dancing. They called themselves "The Crazy Eights" at first, but later they refined themselves into the "Bridge Club". It's uncertain if any of the members ever knew the rules of the card game they named themselves after. Dinners, rodeos, concerts and dancing were the activities of choice.

Jan was driven in so many ways that took so many forms throughout her life. If she saw something needed to be done, she'd take it upon herself to carry it out. When her two oldest children, Rob and Misty, were still very young, she took over as president of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and helped open the Women's Center in Billings. She organized a Bible Study for her and her friends who weren't familiar with the Bible and all but one accepted Christ before the study ended three years later. When her kids got into school, she joined PTA's, booster clubs, sat on graduation committees and sponsored majorettes at Billings Central. Any committee or organization she joined, she quickly asserted herself as a senior member.

Jan had standards. She didn't have a lot of patience for nonsense, and as a mother, she imparted those standards to her kids. When report cards came home; A's were expected, B's were barely satisfactory, C's cost you privileges. Though unspoken, it was understood that average meant you weren't trying, and anything short of your best effort was a waste of time. She had proven to herself that she could accomplish what she set out to accomplish and wanted her kids to find that in themselves as well.

While Billings was their hometown, Jim, Jan and the family spent most of the weekends in summer and fall at their home on the Yellowstone River near Big Timber they called The Ranch. When her late mother, Lil, was still alive, they'd sit knitting on the couch by the window and watch the river flow by for hours as they talked. Jan loved taking care of her flowers and the garden up at the Ranch, but not as much as she enjoyed spending time with the extended family that congregated there. Most evenings were spent having cocktails out by the river with Jim's parents Bill and Connie Lowe, sitting around a large dinner table and playing games with the family.

Jan enjoyed playing cards and other games, anything that brought people together having fun. She loved the competition, too. Jan was involved in any football pool, basketball bracket or league pick 'em that would allow her. She never sat down to watch TV, but a game was always on in the room she worked in. To watch a game with Jan you'd come away with a vast knowledge of every player, their parents, their hometown, their dating situation and food preferences. Her favorite team was the Montana Grizzlies. Anyone around her wearing navy blue would be in danger of a wry comment.

In 2004, Jim and Jan moved up to the Ranch while building a new home in Billings. They loved it so much they decided to sell the house under construction and live in the country full-time. This gave Jan a whole new social scene to dive into, and she quickly made herself a welcome and familiar contributor in the Big Timber community, getting involved in the local church and joining more clubs.

Jan's life lived out in two distinct chapters. In 2008, she and her sister Norma, went on a weekend quilting retreat up the Boulder River. Here, while talking with Norma late into the night, she suffered a massive stroke that changed her life forever.

While her body and her mind would never be the same, the qualities she developed from throwing herself at everything in the past manifested in different ways. She developed a wry, sarcastic sense of humor that brought laughter or self-reflection. She kept her preternatural ability to sense fakes or falsehood but felt more comfortable than ever calling it out. Her toughness carried her through sixteen years of challenges and setbacks without much protest or complaint.

On December 12th, Janet ascended to heaven, passing peacefully in bed with family by her side. She is survived by her husband, Jim. Her children, Rob Lowe (fiancée Denielle Jordan), Misty Proud (Brad Proud), Brad Lowe (Ellie, Henry, Cohen); her brother, Bob Tirrell (Becky); and sister, Norma Tirrell.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a gift to Stillwater Hospice. A celebration of Jan's life will be held at Faith Evangelical on January 24th at 10:30 a.m.