David Lowman passed away suddenly on October 8, 2021, at his home in Southfield at age eighty-nine. He left his wife, Barbara, sons John and Joshua and their wives, two granddaughters, and his beloved spaniel, Virgil.

David was born on December 2, 1931, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He graduated from Bowling Green State University in business, and later received a masters degree from the University of Michigan in English and education. He taught English for several years in Fontana and Claremont, California, where he started a union affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. In 1971 he moved to Lansing, Michigan, and for nine years worked in the Michigan Department of Education as a consultant in a variety of programs.

In 1980 he and Barbara purchased the Southfield General Store, and moved here to pursue a radically different lifestyle. They spent the next twenty-one years cutting meat, pumping gas, making sandwiches, and trying to keep the store as a welcoming center for the village. They also delivered a rural mail route out of the Southfield Post Office for thirty years.

David served as a New Marlborough selectman for twelve years, was one of the founders of the New Marlborough 5 Village News in April, 2000, and received New Marlborough's Elihu Burritt Award for Community Service in 2015. For forty-one years he actively enjoyed being part of the New Marlborough community, and happily contributed to it in many ways.

A memorial service will be held in early December.

Published by The Berkshire Eagle on Oct. 15, 2021.