Robert G. "Bob" Lown

Robert G. Lown died at the Edgewood Center in Portsmouth New Hampshire on August 4, 2025 at the age of 94. He was born on May 8, 1931 in Milwaukee Wisconsin to John and Margaret (Minahan) Lown.

Bob was educated at the Milwaukee Country Day School, where he was Class President for all four years, Captain of the track team and was the all conference quarterback of the football team that won 44 straight games. His coach, Ken Laird, had played for the Green Bay Packers. His high school classmates and teammates included boys named Evinrude, of the outboard engine company, Davidson, as in Harley Davidson, Uhlein, owners of the Schlitz brewery, and Miller, of the Miller brewery.

In the fall of 1951 he met a Radcliffe classmate in the Harvard course known as "Fine Arts 13", also known as "Darkness at Noon" because it met at noon and often included the showing of slides of paintings. He invited her to go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for a viewing assignment. She knew at the time the museum was closed but didn't say so, and hoped he'd invite her to have coffee instead. He did, and he and Pixie Dow were married in June of 1954.

He graduated from Harvard College in 1953, served in the US Marine Corps for two years and was honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant. He graduated from the Harvard Business School in 1957 and began a career as an executive in the machine tool industry. Bob began his career at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in Hartford, Connecticut and then worked for Stocker and Yale in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

In 1964 he moved with Pixie and their three children to Amherst, NH where they lived for 43 years and he was active in town affairs, serving as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and as a Selectman. He was Vice President of the Greenerd Press and Machine Company in Nashua, NH, where he worked for 28 years before retiring in 1993. He and Pixie moved to Kennebunk, Maine in 2007.

Bob began drawing and painting when he was 8 years old. He was an award winning watercolor artist and furniture craftsman. He painted traditional New England homes, seascapes and rural scenes and crafted furniture of simple Shaker design. His paintings and furniture grace the homes of family and friends, allowing us to continue to feel his presence and to appreciate his eye for beauty and simplicity.

In high school he high jumped 6 feet (he was 5'11") and pole vaulted 12'6", back when the pole was bamboo and the pit was filled with sand or wood chips. He took up tennis after he got married and was known for his overhead smash. He sang in his church choir at the two Unitarian churches of which he was a devoted member for over 60 years. Most recently he was an active and dedicated parishioner at the First Parish Unitarian Church in Kennebunk, serving in numerous leadership positions over the years, including the Board of Directors, and where he had many friends.

At the age of 88, Bob climbed Mt. Willey (4255'), to surprise his granddaughter, Abigail, who was scheduled that day to be working on the trail for the AMC trail crew. It was 90 degrees at the base, and he hiked to the top, not telling anyone ahead of time - didn't want anyone to worry. He was determined, disciplined, and relished challenges in life and said to himself, when accomplished, "You did it Bobby!".

Bob was a steady, talented, thoughtful man and a devoted husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather. For those who knew him, the world will not be the same without him. Despite his recent physical challenges, he maintained a positive attitude to the end, kept his sense of humor, and made thoughtful comments on the state of our world.

Bob was predeceased by his older brother, Mike, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident at the age of 19 in 1948.

His wife Pixie died in 2017 after struggling with dementia, and then Alzheimer's. Bob was to the end a loving and devoted husband and cared for her by himself. His marriage was the center of his life for 63 years.

He is survived by his sister, Margie Ann Fuhr, of Georgetown, Texas, and her five children and by his three children, Anne Lown (Dr. Rick Hecht) of Portland, Oregon, Brad Lown (Dr. Christyn Sieve) of Portsmouth, NH, and Sarah Lown (Professor Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez) of Youngstown, Ohio, 5 grandchildren (Tania and Rachel Lown-Hecht, of Portland, Oregon, Frances Lown, of Portland, Oregon, Abigail Lown, of Brooks, Maine and Peter Lown, of Somerville Massachusetts) and 4 great grandchildren.

His family is deeply grateful to the management and staff at the Edgewood Center in Portsmouth, who skillfully and patiently took care of Bob for 7 months.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, September 5, 2025 at 11 am at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 114 Main Street, Kennebunk, Maine.

To share a memory or leave a message of condolence, please visit Bob's Book of Memories Page at www.bibberfuneral.com.

Arrangements are in the care of Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer Street, Kennebunk, ME 04043.