Businesswoman. Lowney Turner Handy was the co-founder, along with her husband, and primary leader of the Handy Writer's Colony in Marshall, a rural town in Illinois. The colony operated from 1950 to 1964, disbanding upon her death. Born in "White Hall," the mansion home of abolitionist Cassius Clay, her father served for many years as a groundskeeper of the property, but was eventually elected the county's sheriff. She claimed Native American ancestry on her mother's line. After high school, she did not attend any formal college education, but quickly married Harry "Hap" Handy, a student at the University of Illinois and the only son of a wealthy two-term State Representative, who had committed suicide in 1934. Publicly discussed in detail, she and her husband never had children after her hysterectomy at an early age. Relocating, her husband became an executive for the Ohio Oil Refinery, yet her non-traditional free-spirit did not fit with his country club colleagues and their wives. She sought to be come an author, beginning a correspondence course for the needed skills but failed. She found an interest in occult beliefs, holistic medicines, and Eastern religions. At this point in 1944, she met James Jones, a young soldier, who was stationed a Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and wounded at the Battle of Guadalcanal. He wanted to become an author. Later, he was recognized for his 1951 award-winning novel "From Here to Eternity" and his fourth novel in 1962, "The Thin Red Line." Both World War II related novels were adapted to one or more film versions. The 1953 film "From Here to Eternity received eight Academy Awards. After meeting Jones, she was encouraged to focus all her ambition and drive into helping him, a veteran, who was physically and mentally war-worn, to get behind the typewriter and write. She conceived the idea of a Utopian commune for budding artists, who could focus solely on their writing endeavors. Following Jones published his first book, she had the monetary funding for her writer's colony, which had started slowly in 1949 with tents in a pasture. After "Life" magazine published the nine-page article entitled "James Jones and His Angel," the colony received much publicity and became a success with all-male cabins. Her students came to the colony with the idea that they would work under James Jones, the most talked-about author in the United States, yet found that, she, who had less education than most of them, was their drill-sergeant teacher and teaching on a host of other subjects from her personal viewpoint besides professional writing. Her teaching agenda had the students typing for five-hours a day an already published novel without offering composition theory or even basic English grammar. The course was not for everyone with some students staying for only a few days while others for years. Although critics disclaimed that the colony was a legitimate enterprise, the Handy Writers' Colony had documented by-laws and meeting minutes and certainly made a distinctive mark in American literature. Over the years, her precise relationship with Jones has been of much speculation. In February of 1957, Jones married Gloria Mosolino, who was the stand-in actress for Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch." The next Fourth of July, she and Gloria had a physical altercation, and the next day, Jones and his wife Gloria left the colony for France and never returned. Jones' departure left the colony in a compromised financial position. Shortly after her husband's 1963 death, Jon Shirota, a Japanese-American born in Hawaii, became Lowney's last student in residence at the colony. Her death at age 60 was June 27, 1964. In 1965 Shirota published "Lucky Come Hawaii" and continued to publish other novels along with being a successful playwright. Besides Jones, other authors receiving her guidance were Jerry Tschappat (a.k.a. Gerald Tesch), who was the first student to be published; Tom T. Chamales, who wrote a perfect chapter on his first try; Edwin C. Daly; William Duhart; Jere Peacock, whose colony novel "Valhalla" was banned in Australia; and Charles S. Wright. In 1971 John Bowers published his first book, an autobiographical account of his time spent under Lowney's guidance, "The Colony."