Roger Lowe

Roger Lowe Sr., 85, of Littlefield Texas went to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ at 2:36 a.m. on October 3rd, 2024, after a brief illness. Roger was born in Brownfield Texas on January 8th, 1939. Roger married the love of his life, Yvette, in 1963 and their marriage was blessed with 2 amazing children, daughter Lezlie and son Roger Jr. Roger and Yvette were also blessed with seven grandchildren that they love and adore.
Roger grew up in Littlefield Texas and made Littlefield his home for almost his entire life. Early on, it was evident that Roger was destined for greatness becoming an Eagle Scout in 1957. According to the BSA, Eagle Scouts embody the traits of loyalty, trustworthiness, helpfulness, friendliness, courteousness, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, thriftiness, bravery, cleanliness and reverence. Those principles certainly describe Roger and he spent the rest of his life living out those principles. Roger took great pride in Littlefield Wildcat football and was a faithful supporter of all Wildcat sports. While in high school, Roger played football from 1954-1957. The Wildcats went to the State Quarter Finals his sophomore year and to the State Semi-Finals his senior year. After graduating from Littlefield High School, Roger went to college and lettered in football playing all four years for Arlington State College / UT Arlington. While serving as Co-captain on the football team his senior year, his fellow co-captain told him about his cute little "sister-in-law" that was a cheerleader at rival Tarleton State University. Roger took him up on his suggestion and asked this cute little cheerleader from Tarleton out on a date and Yvette was glad to oblige. Well, the rest is history, Roger and Yvette continued dating long distance for the next several years while Roger served our country in Korea while in the Army. Shortly after returning home, Roger and Yvette decided to get married and made their home in Littlefield and they have been there ever since.
Roger and his Dad, Bud Lowe opened their first grocery store in Olton Texas way back in 1963; however the family's history can be traced back to the late 1940's when Bud Lowe started his career selling candy and sundries with only one truck distributing throughout the town of Littlefield. Bud and Roger together founded Lowe's on the principle of taking care of the community, their teammates and their family. That philosophy has allowed the company to grow to 153 stores with approximately 6,000 teammates covering the entire state of Texas and New Mexico with additional stores in Colorado, Kansas, and Arizona.
Throughout the years, Roger had to face many adversities, but he always relied on his faith in God and a strong and determined perseverance to see him through. In March of 2020, at the beginning of the Covid epidemic, a fire completely destroyed the Lowe's grocery store in the small town of San Saba. United States Congressman Mike Conaway wrote the following comments on his Facebook page: There is no stronger testimony of true rural American grit, tenacity, and community than the incredible comeback of San Saba's Lowe's Market. The store burned at the same time COVID-19 panic swept grocery store shelves. Within 7 days of its total loss, thanks to hundreds of Texans and countless answered prayers, the main food source for San Saba rose from the ashes. I was able to check out the temporary location of the grocery store to witness the miracle that is Lowe's Market. There is no doubt that the Lord made sure nobody went hungry in San Saba, Texas. The gratitude that pours from the employees and locals is humbling. Where else on Earth would folks donate equipment, electrical and plumbing trade skills, and volunteer time to deliver groceries to those who walked to their former location, offer to supply people with any necessities to stay afloat, and relocate the only source for necessities- than small town USA. God Bless our rural Texas.
This "tragedy to triumph" story of the San Saba Lowe's Grocery Store serves as an example of what a community can accomplish with a little help from devoted city and county officials, trusted vendor partners, great volunteers and dedicated teammates, even in the middle of a local and global crisis. After the completion of the new store, the main cornerstone of the building showed the real source of being able to deal with adversity-Jesus Christ- the Cornerstone. Roger built his business founded on core-Christian values that he truly lived out. Some of the values that guided Roger include: faith, family, honesty, integrity, servant leadership, hard work, commitment, following the "Golden Rule" of putting other's needs ahead of your own, respect, positive attitude, dependability, fairness, gratefulness, humility, consistency and stewardship. Family and Christian values truly are at the center of Roger's life. Those family and Christian values helped drive one of the company's internal logos: GFG. The logo comprises three letters (GFG) intermingled together and those three letters summarize the priorities of our company in the proper order: 1. God-Big G represents God as the first priority 2. Family-Smaller F represents family as the second priority 3. Groceries-Smaller G represents the grocery business as the third priority. Roger is famous for providing sound guidance to young leaders in our company and he would often tell them, "God, family, and the grocery business-keep your priorities in that order and your life will go a whole lot better." Roger recognized that God had truly blessed his business many years ago and he always strived to be a good steward with the many ways that God had blessed him. "With great power, comes great responsibility" is more than a catchy quote from the movie "Spiderman", this philosophy drove Roger to truly act as a responsible steward. In Luke 12:48, Jesus Christ speaks about the "faithful and sensible steward" saying "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Roger took that scripture to heart and used his resources to bless thousands of people, countless communities, and the entire grocery industry.
Early in his career, Roger realized the importance of partnering with a solid and dependable wholesaler. It was this knowledge that drove Roger to partner with Affiliated Foods (AFI) in Amarillo. AFI also recognized the value of having a solid young groceryman on their leadership team. Roger joined the AFI Board of Directors in 1972 and he became Chairman of the Board for AFI in 1982. Roger served on the Board of Directors for AFI for 50 years and was the Chairman of the Board for 40 years before retiring from the AFI Board in 2022. During that time, Roger built thousands of valuable relationships while simultaneously growing his own business and AFI into one of the largest wholesalers in the United States. Roger has always been a community leader and there was no organization more special to Roger than his church, First Baptist Church in Littlefield. Roger served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher for many years at FBC Littlefield. He also served as President of the Littlefield School Board for many years. Roger received numerous awards and recognition throughout the years. Most recently, in 2016, Roger received national recognition and was awarded the National Grocer's Association Thomas Zaucha Entrepreneurial Award for Excellence. In 2022, Roger was a Shelby Southwest Food Industry Hall of Fame Inductee and Lowe's was named the Southwest Retailer of the year.
Roger is survived by his loving wife, Yvette Lowe, daughter Lezlie (David) and son Roger Jr. (Julie), Seven grandchildren Mason (Paisley) Harlan, Hudson Harlan, Keaton Harlan, Tatum Kowalski (Nicholas), Trip Lowe (Lindsey), Ryan Atkinson (Tanya), and Reece Atkinson, Step-brother Jerry Lowe, and countless friends and teammates of his company. Roger is preceded in death by his parents, Bud & Iris Lowe and brother Steve Lowe.
The family will receive friends on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 from 5:30 p.m.– 6:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church M.A.C. (Gymnasium). Celebration of Life Services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday October 9, 2024 at First Baptist Church in Littlefield with Pastor Tanner Wilson officiating. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to 29 Acres. There is a donation page on the company's website: https://29acres.org. Arrangements under the personal care of Hillcrest Funeral Home in Littlefield.