HISTORY OF OUSSIE KINGSFORD LOWE
Written by Leora L. Taylor

Oussie K. Lowe was born May 11, 1886 in Coveville, Utah to Elizabeth Kingsford and James Galloway Lowe. He was the first child of this marriage.

His early Childhood was spent in Cove. When Oussie was about eight years of age, the family moved to Franklin. At this time, Oussie had two sisters and one brother. They bought a farm in what was then known as Cherryville. James built homes on each side of the city ditch, one for each of his two wives. He was a carpenter and builder. He built a wash house over the ditch with a wheel that turned the washer and the separator.

Oussie helped on the farm, raising garden, milking cows, caring for fruit trees, strawberries, churning butter, and other chores. He was closely associated with his half-brothers and sisters as well as his own brothers and sisters. He attended school in Cherryville in a one-room school house with on teacher for all grades. His schooling stopped at the eighth grade, and from this time on he worked herding sheep mostly.

When he was a young man, he played in a band. He bought him a cornet and took lessons by correspondence. He used to play in the town square on Sundays and for other different occasions.

He worked hauling milk, a job given him by John Whitehead, and at twenty-one, he married this man's daughter, Bertha Whitehead. The marriage took place September 26, 1906 in the Logan LDS Temple.

June 30, 1907, a daughter, LeOra was born at the home of Oussie's mother in Cherryville. They later moved into a log house near the Whitehead home.

November 23, 1909 another daughter, Reva was born, and December 30, 1911 a daughter, Retta was born in a new home they built in Cherryville. At this time homes still didn't have running water. They carried water from Maple Creek.

While living in Cherryville, Oussie was a counselor in the Branch for a time. Oussie's wife, Bertha was Secretary in the Relief Society.

On the 23rd of February 1915 a baby boy was born to Oussie and Bertha. Both Mother and Child died the same day, the mother bleeding to death, leaving Oussie with three small daughters, ages seven, five, and three. Oussie's feelings were uncontrollable after this event. He failed to see the necessity or wisdom of such an occurrence. The remainder of the winter the children stayed with their Grandmother Whitehead for one month, and then LeOra and Retta stayed with their Grandmother Lowe and Reva with Belvia Gibson, Oussie's sister. The three children had measles, chicken pox, small pox, and many of the children's diseases that winter, which gave Oussie even more grief. All this time he kept on driving the milk wagon for a livelihood for him and his three daughters.

The following spring the family moved back up to the old home where Oussie had different ones come in to tend the children and keep house. Oussie's sister Belvia had lost her husband, so she came to tend the children and keep house. Oussie kept up his job. He ran the milk wagon with a team of horses from Cherryville into Franklin. A sleigh was used in winter.

On February 6, 1918 Oussie married Syrena Kinney in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Oussie refused to marry Syrena unless it was in the Temple. Therefore she received the missionaries and was baptized in order to go to the Temple. No children were born to this marriage.

At this time Oussie bought one of the first Model-T Fords in Franklin. The children were delighted with the Ford with the top that went down and the brass-rimmed radiator.

The family then moved to the Whitehead farm in Cherryville because John Whitehead had passed away and his wife moved into Franklin. Oussie still ran the milk wagon and farmed also. He ran the Whitehead farm for several years and then moved back down to the new home.

In about 1920 the family moved to Grace. They traveled by horse and wagon with furniture, chickens, a cow tied behind, and other odds and ends. They stayed overnight in Treasureton where they slept in a barn, going on to grace the next day. They farmed the Snow place in Grace, but all of the crops failed, so they moved to the Comish home. Oussie's brother Carlos lived with them and help Oussie with the farm.

In Grace Oussie worked in the Superintendency of the YMMIA and filled a ward teaching assignment. Family prayers were said in the home, and the family attended Church regularly. Syrena worked in the Primary, and LeOra taught in the Primary.

After about two or three years in Grace the family moved back to Franklin where Oussie took over his mother's farm, and got his milk-hauling job back. This took up all of his Sundays, so Church was forgotten once more.

On certain occasions he worked as a Deputy Sheriff in Franklin. He was buying his mother's home. During the years he was paying for the farm, he took his new home down into Franklin for his mother to live in. Before taking it down they held a big party in the house inviting all the neighbors and friends. Taking the house in town for her was his first payment on the farm.

When Oussie's mother died, she left her estate to be divided equally, except for Oussie who received one dollar. Oussie became embittered toward the rest of his seven brothers and sisters because he was now making payments on the farm to them.

Shortly after he had the farm paid for, his healthier became bad, and he was unable to keep up the milk-hauling job. He gave it up only running the farm for a time. Eventually he was unable to keep up the farm. He sold it to a MacFarland and moved into town in Franklin in 1955.

In the fall of 1965 Syrena had an attack and became very ill. After a time in the hospital, she was placed in the rest home in Lava, Idaho. Without her care Oussie became ill and lonesome, so he joined her there a month later. They stayed until March of 1966 when they came back to their home in Franklin. Both were enjoying better health at this time. The last payment on the farm they sold was due, so they decided to live in Franklin on this payment until the end of their days.

In June of 1967 Oussie became ill and was bedridden. On the 3rd of June Oussie's daughter LeOra and her husband Carson Taylor spent the day with him. On the 5th Retta Porter, his youngest daughter, called LeOra and Reva Rippon telling them Oussie had been taken to the hospital in Downey, Idaho. When they arrived, Oussie was dead and his body was in Preston, Idaho in the funeral home. On Thursday June 8, 1967 his funeral was held in the Franklin Ward LDS chapel, and he was buried in the Franklin cemetery near his first wife.
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NOTE: The Granddaughter of Ossie K. Lowe, Merlyn Cook, gave permission to use this history and pictures for this memorial. It is to be noted also that the original spelling of his first name was Ossien, but this spelling was virtually never used.