OBITUARY

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3211, 2 August 1932, Page 5

OBITUARY

THE PASSING OF A FRIEND. (Contributed.) Death is an infinitely sad event at all times, but when one passes who has earned, and held unbroken throughout a quarter of a century, the close friendship of a whole countryside through the exercise in every day life of the highest Christian virtues then there is cause for grief indeed. Robert Lowe, a native of Newtown County, Westmeath Ireland, left his father’s farms at the age of 26 and came to Auckland where he resided for nine years. Four years after- his arrival in New Zealand the late Mr Lowe met and married Miss Harriette Nabbs, eldest daughter of the late William and Louisa Nabbs, of Mangapiko. In 1904 the late Mr Lowe came to the Waikato and two years later settled near Pirongia in the Man-g-apiko Valley, where he soon established himself as a sound farmer and good neighbour, ably assisted by his wife and daughter. It is given to but few men to win and hold the esteem of so wide a circle as that enjoyed by the late Robert Lowe. He demonstrated throughout a sojourn of 25 years how a man may win for himself a permanent place in the hearts of his neighbours without impairing his own welfare. A candid, determined character, typically Irish in the warmth of his hospitality and concern for his neighbour’s welfare. As evidence that he was always a cheerful giver, it is related how the children invariably fought for the privilege of collecting Mr Lowe’s picnic subscription. A whole district mourns the loss of a universal friend and extends to his sorrowing wife and daughter its heartfelt sympathy.