Mourners honor Ed Lowe and his 'gift'

Ed Lowe's fans and friends, readers and relatives came to pay homage to him Wednesday at the Church of St. Patrick in Huntington, where the pastor imagined Lowe looking down from heaven with a comment and story about everyone present.

Praising his "unique phenomenal gift of creativity, integrity and love," Msgr. John Bennett said, "Ed Lowe's story is surely one worth writing, and indeed, he wrote it for us."

Lowe, a Newsday columnist for nearly 30 years whose stories of ordinary Long Islanders moved readers to tears and laughter, died Saturday at age 64 of liver cancer, after almost three years of recovery from a stroke. He had resumed writing columns in weekly blog posts and wrote of his shock upon learning he had cancer.

But, said Bennett, Lowe's writings expressed not only his anger about his terminal illness but also that he had come "to terms with God's plan."

Of those who came to pay their last respects, some had known him for decades. Others had never met him but felt they knew him well.

"I'm not a friend or family, but I just read his columns quite often, and I felt I got to know his family," said Linda Pytko of East Northport. "I loved reading him; ... and I felt I needed to come and honor someone who gave me so much joy over the years."

Lowe, who lived most of his life in Amityville, started out as a teacher before becoming a reporter in 1969 at the Suffolk Sun, which folded not long after. He was then hired by Newsday and became a featured columnist in 1976. He took early retirement in 2004, and his columns subsequently appeared in the weekly Long Island Press and in South Bay's Neighbor newspapers.

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Those who turned out to say goodbye at two days of wakes included "clammers and baymen and state senators and saloonists and waitresses and bar owners and journalists," his wife, Susan Hennings-Lowe, said, and they told her, " 'He did a story on me, he did a story on my mother or my sister, he was always respectful.' Ed Lowe was an appreciator. It was your truth, whatever it was."

Lowe's daughter T.C. of Amity Harbor said her daughter Shannon, 19, wrote a poem to her grandfather Tuesday night.

"It usually ends the same as it began," it began. "Tear-rimmed eyes and shaking hands. Funny how the body emits joy and sorrow, The end of yesterday beginning tomorrow. But if you got a minute, Pop, I've got a memory or two. We could sit and reminisce, you know, just me and you."

Continuing, the poem spoke to Lowe's gift. "You taught me that, proved that stories are timeless. And when you deliver them right the moment is priceless."

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The final line included one of Lowe's trademark phrases: "We'll zip up our zips and button our buttons. No need for goodbye, see you all of a sudden."