Roy A.F. Lowey-Ball

1944 - 2022

Roy A.F. Lowey-Ball was born in Delft, The Netherlands July 25, 1944. Roy's family moved many times growing up due to his father's job with the Royal Dutch Shell refinery. Born during the war in 1944 in The Netherlands, his family moved to The Hague briefly before moving to Curacao in 1948. From there, his father's job took the family to the United States via the Santa Rosa where they eventually ended up in Kerrville, Texas, to be located near family friends and to learn English from his teachers, the Butt family. After a short period in Kerrville, the family relocated to Edmonton, Alberta for 5-years before returning to Texas – Houston, Texas. It was in Houston where Roy attended junior and high school and achieved a full academic scholarship to Rice University where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1967 and Bachelor of Architecture in 1968.
After graduating from Rice, Roy joined the Peace Corps where he spent two-years in Tunisia as a building inspector, project evaluator, professor of architecture and teaching French. Roy was a remarkable linguist, speaking 5 languages (English, Dutch, French, German and Spanish).
Roy was an accomplished architect and talented artist. He had an impressive career with Ford, Powell & Carson Architects, under the tutelage of O'Neil Ford where he was a Principal with the firm. Once serving as the San Antonio Chapter President of the American Institute of Architects, Roy also served on the Board of the Texas Society of Architects as an Advisory Trustee of the Texas Architects Committee. Specializing in theatre design, as well as preservation and conservation architecture, Roy worked on notable buildings such as Incarnate Word College Theatre (San Antonio, TX), Strand Street Theatre (Galveston, TX), St. Phillip's Theatre (San Antonio, TX), Skidmore College Theatre (Saratoga Springs, NY), The Texas State Capitol Restoration (Austin, TX), the renovation of Centro Civico in Guayaquil, Ecuador and as the designer for the National Center for Economic Information for the Ministry of Finance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – to name a few. Roy also served as master planner for clients such as The University of Texas at San Antonio, The University of Texas at Arlington and Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX, among many more. An excellent writer, Roy co-authored articles on technology and restoration practices.
Roy passed away unexpectedly in his home in San Antonio, TX, September 9th, 2022. Roy was a loving husband, father (papa) and Opa (grandpa). He was incredibly intelligent, artistic, imaginative, witty and always the comic relief and will be missed dearly by many. Roy is survived by his wife of nearly 40 years, Pamela Bartholomew, daughters Lindsey Sanders and Brittany Zars, sons-in-law Brad and Leif, grandchildren Leif (8), Hallie (7), Hudson (5), Landry (4) and London (1), siblings Albert, Rudolf (Dolf), Charles, Nanette and many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his father Jacobus Johannes and mother Agatha Wilhelmina, both of the Dutch East Indies, and brother Alfred Lowey-Ball of Belgium.