Rosemary Smith Lowe

Mrs. Rosemary Smith Lowe was born May 21, 1926 in Dumas, Arkansas.  She transitioned to be her Lord on September 22, 2020.

Rosemary Lowe exemplifies a life of service – to her profession, to her neighborhood, to her community and to others. It is a record of involvement, achievement and accomplishment.

Her involvements are wide-ranging and reflect a lifelong interest in caring about and for others. Her volunteerism includes health care, politics and community-based organization.

Mrs. Lowe was there when Freedom Inc. was founded in 1962 and fought hard for the historic public accommodation city ordinance in 1964 to outlaw discrimination in use of public facilities. “It meant that if you were Downtown shopping and you got tired, you could go have a hot dog and not have to stand up to eat it,” recalled Mrs. Lowe, in a 1996 article in the Kansas City Star. Freedom Inc. the next year helped elect Harold Holliday Sr. and Leon Jordon, Freedom founders, to the Missouri Legislature. “We sent them,” said Lowe. “The men got the titles, but the women did the work.” Freedom Inc. in 1987 gave her its Distinguished Service Award.

A licensed cosmetologist, Mrs. Lowe served on the Missouri Board of Cosmetology from 1980 to 1984 and received the licensing board’s distinguished service award.

In the community, she worked as an American Red Cross volunteer at Menorah Medical Center and also the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center. She is a life member of the Menorah Medical Auxiliary.

Her political involvement won her a place on the Democratic National Committee where she served from 1980 to 1986. In 1984, she took an African-American page to the Democratic National Convention in 1984. In 1993, Lowe received the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Foundation Award.

In 1992, Lowe became a vice chair and a founding member of the Local Investment Commission (LINC) www.kclinc.org – a nationally-recognized and awarded community-based collaborative involved in welfare reform, foster care, managed Medicaid and school-based services. .

Lowe is active in other community concerns. She has served on the Jackson County Office of Human Relations and Citizen Complaints. She serves on the county Domestic Violence Commission. In 2002, she was appointed to the Community Advisory Committee of the $450 million A Rising Tide Foundation created following the sale of Health Midwest health care system.

Her neighborhood involvement is extensive. Lowe is president of the Santa Fe Area Neighborhood Association Council and worked on the ad hoc group which got six apartments removed in the 27th and Benton intersection following disturbances there in 1996. She serves on the board of directors of Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance www.kcna.org and received 10 weeks of training from the Kansas City, Mo. Citizens Police Academy.

In 2006. Lowe received the prestigious Kansas City Spirit Award.

It is a life of caring, giving, service, leadership and outreach to others.

 Mrs. Lowe was preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Anna Lee Smith, two sisters Jessie Lee Hood and Katherine Marshall, two brothers Walter and Tommy Smith and granddaughter Johnetta White.

She leaves to cherish her precious memories son James E. White, Sr., (Linda) three brothers Robert Smith, William Smith and Charles Smith, two grandchildren Angie Lee White and James E. White, Jr., five great-grandchildren and 1 great-greatgrandchild.

Services will be held Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 10 am at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, community visitation will be Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at 1 pm at the Morning Star Community Center. Interment will be in Leavenworth National Cemetery, Leavenworth, Kansas.

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