Remembering Lowrie Gibb

Many Westporters knew Lowrie Gibb.

A town resident for nearly 50 years, he was a familiar presence at Winslow Park, and Compo and Old Mill Beaches — biking, running, walking a dog, planting a tree and chatting.

Many other Westporters knew Lowrie’s work, if not his name. He spent years — independently, and with a disregard for rules — creating and maintaining a series of walking trails at Winslow Park. (He got Lyme disease in the process.) Everyone who walks in the Winslow woods owes him a debt of gratitude.

Lowrie died April 8 at Norwalk Hospital, of complications of pneumonia. He was 87.

Lowrie Gibb with Rosie, at Winslow Park. (Photo/Jo Shields Sherman)

Lowrie — known also for his vintage Volvo station wagons and idiosyncratic attire — had roots on the New Jersey shore. But he had a keen appreciation for Westport’s location at the juncture of the Saugatuck River and Long Island Sound. He admired the town’s waterways, and outdoor amenities.

Lowrie explored his native Rumson, New Jersey Lowrie by bike. He learned to sail there too.

Later in Westport, he delighted in a wooden Lightning sailboat — like those of his youth — that he found for sale. He kept it at Compo Beach, maintained it meticulously, and took friends and family for frequent jaunts on the Sound.

He also enjoyed rowing, sculling and paddling.

A multi-sport athlete, Lowrie was especially recognized as a skier. He learned at an early age in Stowe, Vermont with his father and 2 brothers. He pursued other winter sports, like skating and pond hockey, in New Jersey.

There was a 2-year adventure in Half Moon Bay, California during World War II, while Lowrie’s father, a Navy captain, served in the Pacific.

In 1951 Lowrie’s family moved to a dairy farm in Weybridge, Vermont. His father, Arthur Gibb, served in the Vermont House of Representatives and Senate.

A Republican and staunch environmentalist, Arthur chaired the commission that created Act 250 — the strictest environmental protection law in the nation at the time. Senator Gibb also played in important role in Vermont’s no-billboard law, and the introduction of recycling. His father’s environmentalism had a strong influence on Lowrie.

Lowrie Gibb helped create and maintain many walking paths at Winslow Park. (Photo/Mark Mathias)

Lowrie attended local public schools, then Mount Hermon. At Middlebury College he studied history, and competed in giant slalom, slalom, the 50-meter jump and Nordic.

He trained in the western US and South America, and tried out for the 1960 Olympic team in Nordic.

After college Lowrie married and started a family. They lived in Stowe and Manchester, Vermont where he taught school.

In 1967 the Gibbs moved to Westport. He chose the town carefully, for its waterfront, public access to recreational spaces, and excellent schools. He loved Westport, and often said it had more to offer than any place else in the world.

During snowstorms, Lowrie would wax his children’s skis. They’d go out at night, before the streets were plowed.

Lowrie was passionate about land use, with a special interest in integrating nature into communities. He was always on the lookout for a good spot for a pocket park, a tree or a trail.

For some years he worked in real estate development. But his commitment to using land to serve a public need for open space and recreation found its ultimate expression later, and on a smaller scale.

Lowrie Gibb

He might have become a landscape architect, like one of his grandfathers who designed urban parks. But he always preferred an unconventional path.

Lowrie loved trees — especially elms, for their majestic canopied crowns. Lamenting their destruction by disease, he planted 30 saplings of Liberty elm, a resistant strain, in his backyard.

When the trees were big enough, he re-planted them all around Westport. (Like his creation of the Winslow trails, this too was illegal.)

Today those elms can be seen across from Town Hall and the Seabury Center, in the median off I-95 Exit 18, in an Ambler Road back yard, and many other places.

Lowrie was a longtime regular at Longshore’s Westport PAL rink, figure skating with grace and ease. As recently as last month, at 87, he made a track and skied in his backyard.

When there was no snow or ice, he ran at Compo Beach and Grace Salmon Park.

Lowrie is survived by his daughters, Cynthia and Rebecca.

Contributions in his memory can be made to the charities he supported — the Humane Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Best Friends Sanctuary in Utah, and St. Jude’s.

Cynthia and Rebecca suggest also “continuing his work at Winslow Park, picking up trash, clearing branches from trails, and caring for it like your own yard.”