Fred Milton Lowell

Fred Milton Lowell lived with a smile that offered warmth and welcome to all those he met. He died peacefully with his daughters with him on November 15, 2024 in Willow Street, PA.

He was known for his insatiable interest in the natural world, as well as the people he encountered in it, be they employees at the hardware stores he visited for his countless projects, tradespeople he consulted, patients he treated, or caretakers and residents he met in his later years at the Willow Valley Retirement Community. When asked why he chose psychiatry as his specialty as a physician, he said that as he completed his medical training, it seemed that each medical specialty area looked only at parts of the whole, and he was interested in the whole person.

Fred was born in Newark, NJ on March 1, 1932, narrowly missing a leap year birthday. He was raised in Westfield, NJ and spent his childhood summers in Bayville, NJ sailing his sailboat Flicka in Barnegat Bay and along the New Jersey shoreline, and exploring Cedar Creek with his sister Nancy. He studied biology at Franklin and Marshall College, taught zoology briefly at University of Pennsylvania, then studied medicine at Temple University. He served in the U.S. Army from June 1955 to June 1957 and met his wife-to-be, Diana d’Elseaux, while stationed at Fort Deitrich in Fredrick, MD. They married July 9, 1960.

After completing his internship at Lancaster General Hospital, Fred completed residencies at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Peter Brent Brigham Hospital, both in Boston, MA. Fred and Diana returned to Lancaster in 1965 where he began his long career in psychiatry, working at the Coatesville Veterans Administration Hospital, the Hershey Medical Center and the Lancaster Guidance Clinic, where he served first as a staff psychiatrist and later as the Medical Director. Early in his career he also taught at both the Hershey Medical School and Jefferson Medical College. His respect and compassion for the full range of human experience was an anchoring principle throughout his life, and made him an excellent teacher, both professionally and in his personal life.

A talented do-it-yourselfer, Fred did extensive home renovations and repairs on the house he and Diana purchased on Conestoga Dr. in Lancaster, and also built a home at the Delaware shore. The Delaware property abutted the marsh of Primehook National Wildlife Refuge and he led adventures, both in the marsh and in the Delaware Bay, so that his children, Adele (Del) and Karen, could hone their own delight with the natural world. Fred taught his girls to explore the world, tinker, build, repair and create. He viewed nature as a place of wonder and beauty, and enjoyed sharing his knowledge and enjoyment of it with his daughters, grandchildren and friends. He also enjoyed teaching anyone willing to learn how to build, repair, and create just about anything. His craftsmanship in all that he did, be it straightforward repairs or ingenious innovations to meet unique needs, was superb. If Fred made it, it would last and it often created a sense of wonder.

Fred is survived by his children Adele Marie Lowell and Karen Langholz Lowell, his son-in-law Jeffrey Alan Langholz, his grandchildren Jakob Lowell Langholz and Elsie Sage Langholz and his sister Nancy Ruth Doering. He is preceded in death by his wife Diana d’Elseaux Lowell and his parents Milton Ellsworth Lowell and Ruth Inez Lowell.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you honor his memory by pausing to smile at those around you, and to enjoy the beauty of the natural world.