Island Pioneer Henry Lowe Dies at 85

Marco Island and Collier County lost an important link to its past when Henry Lowe died on September 8. He was 85. Lowe was born in 1938 and lived with his parents in the woods north of what is now Isles of Capri as a child. He spent his life as a leader in the local marine industry, working up until the very end of his life. 

"Henry worked up until about three weeks before he passed away,” said Joan Lowe, Henry’s daughter. "Henry came in every day, even when his health was starting to fail and he was really struggling. He sat at his desk and called leads and spoke with potential buyers and listings, and he hung in there. He was absolutely committed right to the end to doing his work well.” 

Lowe’s name is synonymous with the marine industry in Collier County history. Over the decades Lowe made his mark in Naples, Marco Island, and Bonita Springs. He was a founding member of the Marine Industries Association of Collier County. 

"He was known all over the place,” Lowe said, “everybody made contact with him." 

But one selfless act of heroism perhaps best defines Henry Lowe. In 1973 a teenager on Marco Island, Ellen Poteet, now Ellen Henderson, was badly injured in a boating accident. 

“The driver of the boat,while not paying attention to where I was in the water, started the boat and ran over me,”Ellen Henderson said. 

In an instant, the boat’s prop had spiraled up Henderson’s left leg. A sheared cotter pin stopped the prop from spinning, but the prop was lodged on her ischium, a paired bone of the pelvis that forms the lower and posterior aspects of the hip bone, essential in walking, jogging, and other body movements. Her only hope was to have the lower unit of the motor removed. Likely, there was only one person considered for the perilous job. The call went out to Henry Lowe, who was at Marco River Marina. 

"I knew someone was coming,” Henderson said, "but I did not know who. He said who he was when he got there. You could tell he was a little nervous. I was cognizant. I kind of went in and out towards the end.” 

Lowe performed magnificently, according to Henderson. 

“I want to say he did it in less than 40 minutes,” Henderson said. "Record breaking time. And I'm sure he didn't save the parts. They were just flying. You've got to think that somebody's attached to this motor and how do you get to it? And I know how difficult that day had to have been on him. The pressure. I mean, think about it. Someone asked him to do something that he may or may not have been able to achieve. It was to me, one of the bravest acts just to say, ‘Yeah, I'll go and I'll do it and hopefully, I won't fail.' But fortunately for me and for my (future) kids, he didn’t fail. Once we got into the boat, the propeller fell off. Which was a good thing.” 

Quite a crowd had assembled. Henderson remembers one bystander who was especially helpful. 

“There were many, many people,” Henderson recalls. "Greg Orick actually stayed by me and held my head out of the water because if you can only imagine, I was kind of contorted. So, he just hung out till it was done and over, I remembered that. And there were other people on the sidelines that I'm sure were helpful. Those were the two names I recall."  

The Naples-Marco Island area lacked the infrastructure it has today. Most of the roads were two lanes. There was one hospital and only a few ambulances. 

"I remember being moved,” Henderson said, “you didn't have airplanes and helicopters. They moved me to a sheriff's boat and took me on to Isles of Capri. It was all set up there with ambulances and everything for me to be taken to Naples Community Hospital. The community back then was amazing. The police had taken everybody off the roads so that the ambulance could make it to the hospital because we were only two lanes back then. They had patrol cars. I didn't see them, but they were talking to me, telling me what was going on, and we were flying." 

Henderson has no doubt that Lowe saved her life that day. 

“Absolutely,” she said. "He's my hero. He really has always been so.” 

Henderson was just 15 when she met Lowe for the first time under those difficult circumstances. 

“I didn't know him until after,” she said. “It really wasn't until I was probably about 17. I would start to see him around town and that type of thing. And then my husband Greg and I, after we got married, we got into boating and all that. So, we went to him for advice and bought parts and bought boats and all that.” 

In the ensuing decades, there was always a special feeling when Henry and Ellen would cross paths. 

"I get touched every time I think about it,” Henderson said. “He really was a great guy. And every time we saw each other, it was like the room lit up. I can't even describe it. I'm not an emotional person, usually. It was the toughest deal, you know. He always had my heart.” 

Joan Lowe remembers vividly the day her father came to Henderson’s rescue. 

"He was her hero,” Lowe said. "I can remember that day when he came home afterward. He was very emotional. I was 12 over 13 at the time. I remember him coming home and just crying. I know all that Ellen went through, and she's my inspiration.” 

Henderson said it was special every time she saw Henry Lowe over the years, including the last time they visited when Henry was under Hospice care. 

"I can't even explain,” Henderson said. "I would come near Henry, and his face would just glow. It was like I was his proudest achievement. And it was mutual. Even when I went to visit him in his room, his kids said, ‘My, he perked up.' I mean, there was just this connection that you don't get very often, if at all. He always had a smile, and everybody was his friend. He didn't make enemies. He just made friends. He really did. He'll be missed by many. I can never say enough about him." 

Joan Lowe echoed Henderson’s sentiments about her father. 

"Henry didn't know a stranger,” Lowe said. “He had an openness to teach. He was very generous, too." 

Lowe had five biological children, but he was a dad to many more. 

“He was guardian of five more,” Lowe said, “it was his mother-in-law's children. And when dad remarried, Marilyn had six children already. So, there's the brood. By the time he was 23, he was guardian of five plus three of his own. So, he had a family of ten at the age of 23." 

“He's got some great kids,” Henderson said. “They were all there at the end. My husband Greg and his stepson Tommy are best friends. We've just grown up around each other.” 

According to Craig Woodward’s 2014 Coastal Breeze News two-part article Hiking with Henry Lowe, Henry moved to Marco Island with his parents in 1944, then moved to Naples in 1949. He graduated from Naples High in 1956. In 1968, he opened Lowe's Marine on the island with his brother Jim. In 1970, he and his brother were offered a 49 percent share of Marco River Marina (now Rose Marina) to take over management. He later owned Lowe's Marine on Elkcam Circle. 

Lowe recalled a favorite story of her dad’s that dates back to the Pioneer Era of Marco Island. 

“When he went to school as a child,they used to go to school barefoot,” Low said.“He went to the Scripps school, a famous old school on the island. He’d tell me a story of one time that the school bus was driving so poorly that they had to get out and push the school bus up the hill in their bare feet because they didn't have shoes."  

Recently, Lowe traded places with partner Dan DiLisio. 

"Dan's place of business is Naples Used Boats and Yachts,” Lowe said. "He actually bought Henry's business, Lowe’s Boat and Yacht Brokerage, effective January 1 of this year. So, they had a role reversal where Dan had always been Henry's salesperson. Now Dan is the owner of the company and Henry was his salesperson." 

A Celebration of Life for Henry Lowe is scheduled for Saturday, October 12, from 5:30-7:30 PM at the Naples Boat Club Clubhouse at 909 10th Street South in Naples.