Obituary of Gail C. Lowden

Gail Cohoon Lowden died in the wee hours of Sunday, May 11, 2025 of multiple causes arising from Parkinson's disease. She was 86 years old. Born November 10, 1938 to Herbert and Beatrice Cohoon (neé Hall) in Paterson, NJ, Gail grew up amidst an extended family that gradually dispersed from Maine to Florida. She often said, almost accurately, that all her grandparents were born in Ireland. With her father's grudging support, she attended Douglass College. In March 1960 she married Robert Lowden. The couple soon moved permanently to Pennsylvania, first to Audubon and by turns to Morwood, Hawley, Honesdale, and Newtown. Gail earned a master's degree in statistics at Villanova University in the easiest way possible, at night, with three small children at home. She made a career as a statistician at Merck. She became an expert sailor and every summer was the boat to beat in Javelin Fleet 6 on Fairview Lake. Winters often found her knitting, something she learned, along with pie crust, at her Aunt Ag's side. Spring meant gardening, flowers and vegetables both, organically grown of course. In recent years Gail lived at Pennswood Village in Newtown, PA, where she instituted the annual Robert Burns celebration, now a tradition. She enjoyed martinis, Brahms, and starlight, preferably all at the same time. Her family prospered under her aegis. "My children go to Europe, and we go to the Poconos", she told friends, half-wistful and half-proud, and half-true. She went to Europe too, and her children to the Poconos, because that's where she was. Gail is survived by her brother John Cohoon, her children James, Bruce, and Jennifer, by five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She will be well missed and long remembered. The funeral service will be held on Saturday, May 24, 2025, at 11:00am at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church 54 W. Afton Avenue Yardley, PA 19067. Arrangements are under the care of the FitzGerald-Sommer Funeral Home 17 S. Delaware Avenue Yardley, PA 19067. Condolences for the family can be left at www.fitzgeraldsommerfuneralhome.com.