Celesta Lowe

Celesta Lowe

Celesta Adelaide Lisle Lowe, a daughter of the American West, died Dec. 9, 2004, in Henderson, at age 87. She became the first paid employee at Nevada Southern University, later to become UNLV, and had the honor of enrolling the first student at the University. She worked at the library, and played a large part in developing the library's Special Collections. She collected material, conducted recorded spoken histories of pioneers, and served as a resource for others. For many years she wrote "Echoes From The Archives" a column for the Las Vegas Review Journal. Celesta wrote magazine articles extensively for Desert Magazine, Nevada Highways, Westways, and many others. Ten magazine articles she wrote in the early 1940's became the basis for episodes of Death Valley Days on radio, and later on the Death Valley Days television show narrated by Ronald Reagan. She was a charter member of the Las Vegas chapter of the National League of Pen Women, the Pen Hens, and was an inductee into the Nevada Women's History Project Roll of Honor. Her magazine articles recounted many factual events from the early days in the Death Valley area, including an actual shootout she witnessed as a child at the Tecopa, Calif. railroad station in which two men were shot dead. Another article describes her marriage to D.W. ***93Deke***94 Lowe, at the first Elks Helldorado celebration in Las Vegas in 1935. The legendary Death Valley Scotty, presided over the wedding, then proceeded to his duties as Grand Marshall of the parade down Fremont Street. But Celesta delights her readers by adding the tidbit that Scotty became so intoxicated at the wedding reception that two men had to walk along either side of his horse, the entire length of the parade route to keep him from falling off the horse. Celesta spent her life helping others to understand and appreciate Western history and the history of Nevada. Her mother's family arrived in Utah with Brigham Young's first contingency. Her father's family arrived in Sacramento Valley two years before the California Gold Rush. Celesta grew up on a ranch in Fernley, and later lived in Baker, Shoshone, and Tecopa, Calif., where her family had several businesses. During her high school years she lived in St. Thomas, but her family was forced to evacuate when the town was covered by Lake Mead. Celesta's husband, Deke, was the railroad station agent at Death Valley Junction and other stops on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. Deke and Celesta in the mid-1940s bought the Goodsprings Hotel. They ran the hotel, saloon, gasoline station and grocery store, and Celesta drove the mail route from Jean to Sandy Valley. Celesta is survived by her four children, David (Barbara) of Sandy Valley, Lisle of Amargossa Valley, Janet of Santa Fe, N.M., and Carlsbad, Calif. and Dale (Kathy) of Las Vegas. She had nine grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and the week before she died she became a great-great-grandmother. Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, at Bunkers Mortuary, 925 Las Vegas Blvd. North.