Hartnell College’s oldest known alum, soon to turn 103, didn’t become a Panther until
she was 63.
That was in 1981, when Marian Lowe began taking classes so she could join Hartnell’s
fledgling tennis team, for which her husband was a volunteer assistant coach.
Competition on the court helped the former dentist and stay-at-home Salinas mom climb
out of a deep depression after the death of her son Geoff in a professional motorcycle
race.
“Hartnell College brought me back to life,” Lowe said. “That’s how wonderful Hartnell
is, that you can do anything there at any age.”
The school’s new intercollegiate tennis team needed at least six students to get started. Head Coach Alex Golomeic encouraged her to join. But first, Lowe had to become a full-time student, so she signed up for classes in ballet, jazz, modern dance, music appreciation, French, business and more.
“If I could, I would go back to Hartnell College and take more classes!” she said
last month.
First-generation American
Lowe was born on Jan. 10, 1918, in Watsonville, where her father, an immigrant from China, and mother, from Yuba City, had settled. She is the youngest of nine children.
She credits her longevity to her Christian faith and the love of family throughout
her life.
After high school, she attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she met her husband, fellow dental student Lyman Lowe, at a bonfire. A native of China, he died in 2005 at age 92.
Both completed dental studies at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, now University of the Pacific, in Stockton.
After their marriage, Lowe practiced dentistry for seven years in San Francisco, where
she shared a waiting area with a brother who had expanded his own medical office to
make room for her.
Family moves to Salinas
She and Lyman started a family, and she chose to stay home with her children. Next
came a move to Salinas, where he began a dental practice on Romie Lane.
“My husband said, ‘Let’s go to this small great town of Salinas and raise our children,’”
she recalled. The couple had four sons, three of whom attended Hartnell.
Lowe’s surviving sons live in the Bay Area. One is in law enforcement, one in criminology
and one in medicine. She also has five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
One of her grandsons completed his associate degree at Hartnell, transferred and became a doctor working at Stanford Hospital.
During her years on the tennis team, Lowe sometimes felt too old to be playing mostly
against teenagers, but she also remembers great camaraderie. She was a standout in
both singles and doubles and went on to become nationally ranked in her age group.
Accepting Hall of Fame honor
On Nov. 2, 2019, Lyman was posthumously inducted into the Hartnell Athletics Hall of Fame as an outstanding volunteer. He helped coach men’s and women’s tennis for 13 years.
Guided by a son, and wearing her maroon tennis team sweater, Lowe walked slowly but
steadily onto the stage to accept the honor on behalf of her late husband.
Having joined a tour of Main Campus before the awards luncheon, she remarked, “I was
amazed at the size and at all the improvements.”
“Hartnell College offers so much,” Lowe told the audience of several hundred. “You
can take anything, learn anything and become anything.”
They responded with a standing ovation.
During an interview in her home, she made sure to mention her favorite Bible verse,
Isaiah 40:31:
“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”