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Among those who have made Mount Pulaski her home
all of her life is Teena Lowery. Teena as well as her husband Doug
grew up in the community - they dated, married, and never straying
from their hometown roots raised two wonderful kids.
For anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Teena Lowery just
once, it will come as no surprise that the people in and around
Mount Pulaski love her. They soak in her smile her optimistic
attitude, and her everyday happiness, because it exudes from her.
From her very infectious smile to her happy laughter, she is one of
those people who you look at and you just know she is living life to
its fullest, and she is not just content to be where she is, she is
overjoyed!
This weekend in Mount Pulaski, Teena was of two recognized by the Mount
Pulaski Community Pride.
The Community Pride Award was given to Rick Volle for dedication and
commitment to his community. Teena received a plaque as the
2018 Grand Marshal.
Both are considered to be completely dedicated to their town and
community and both work hard to put the community if a positive
light in all that they do.
Lowery's selection for the Grand Marshal of the 2018 Fall Festival
Parade was an honor that overwhelmed her as she was made well
aware that her community loves her as much as she loves them.
Kelly Aylesworth is a life-long friend of Lowery and was on the
selection committee for the grand marshal. On Friday she spoke about
how Lowery was selected.
Aylesworth said that the committee accepted nominations from the
Mount Pulaski area. They considered each nomination carefully and
what helped in deciding was the theme of this year’s Fall Festival
Parade – “Celebrate Every Day.”
She said that when considering the nominations and the theme, Lowery
was the definition of the theme, always upbeat, always happy, and
always supportive of the community.
Aylesworth noted that Lowery has long been an advocate for the
community and cares deeply about the people of Mount Pulaski. As
someone who has known Lowery for years, Aylesworth said Lowery has
always been this type of person. Even in the last year or so when
there were bad times and sad times, Lowery was always supportive and
loving towards all those who were struggling.
As many know, Lowery is a full time employee of the United States
Post Office, delivering mail in Lincoln. She also works part time
with Lincoln Daily News. In her role with LDN she does a huge amount
of sports reporting, but also works to help promote things going on
in the Mount Pulaski area through her stories and photos.
Her work with LDN began almost by accident. Teena is a proud mom
with two terrific kids who were very active in Mount Pulaski High
School sports at the time. Teena attended all their games and always
with a camera in hand. One day she decided to share her photos and
she sent copies to LDN. “I remember that day after we ran her
photos. Teena stopped in the office and Jim Youngquist, our
publisher, commented to her that she had made LDN history because it
was the first time ever we had run multiple photos in our sports
section on a single local sporting event,” said Nila Smith of LDN.
“I also remember the photos. I have a deep love for photography, and
it was very clear to me that Teena shared that deep love, and she
had mad photography skills!”
For Lowery that was the start of something. She became a regular in
the sports section at LDN. She had great writing skills to go with
her picture taking ability, and she loved going not just to Mount
Pulaski events, but sporting events all around the county. She
became a big asset to the paper. She also moved into writing about
other topics, many of which still revolved around her hometown
community. And it wasn’t long until LDN pretty well considered Mount
Pulaski to be “Teena’s beat.” Friday,
Aylesworth also mentioned that. She referred to Lowery as being a
great ambassador for the community and all of Logan County through
her work with LDN. Lowery responded that she has loved being a part
of LDN and she also felt that what she had done to promote Mount
Pulaski through LDN had to have played a big role in her being
selected.
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On Friday, Lowery summed up what she was feeling about the
accolades she was being given.
“What an honor to be chosen as the 2018 Mount Pulaski Fall Festival Parade Grand
Marshal. I grew up in Mount Pulaski and my husband, Doug, and I made the right
choice to raise our children, Cady and Michael, here,” said Lowery.
“The people in this community and all over Logan County inspire
me every day with their kindness and compassion. I am particularly impressed
with the youth that I am blessed to cover for my part-time job at Lincoln Daily
News.” Lowery continued. “These kids motivate me and make me want to be a better
person. Children celebrate life every day, if given the chance, and their
enthusiasm and pure joy for life can be contagious.”
Then, in typical Teena style, here came a story, a little something she felt she
wanted to share to help us all understand more deeply where her heart is and how
she has loved her community for her entire life.
When I was a young girl I used to ride my little yellow
Schwinn bicycle around the neighborhood. That neighborhood was located across
the railroad tracks at the southwest edge of town. It was my favorite thing to
do as a child. I had a speedometer on that yellow bike and I rode for miles and
miles every day.
As I got older I was allowed to leave the neighborhood and go across the tracks
to Mount Pulaski Food Locker and work in the family business. Eventually I was
allowed to venture across town to the Ben Franklin Store, where I bought my
favorite things, baseball cards and strawberry roll licorice.
The miles added up. One day I even racked up 25 miles around town.
One fall festival, the mayor of Mount Pulaski, Retired United States Air Force
Lieutenant Colonel Frank Altman, presented me with a blue ribbon for the most
miles pedaled around town. To this day I still think he made up the award.
I was so proud of that honor and I truly thought that would be my shining moment
in Mount Pulaski Fall Festival history.
Until now…
Seeing all the smiling faces at the parade on Saturday was a moment I'll never
forget. I felt the love from the community. Traveling in the parade route behind
the American Legion float, which was decorated with flags galore and followed by
a trailer carrying our local heroes, the veterans who served this country, was a
memory I'll always treasure. I believe patriotism is alive and well in our
community.
“And finally, just seeing the excited participants of the parade all lined up
and ready to go was honestly, magical. I witnessed the community coming together
to celebrate.
I soaked it all in. And took videos. And snap chats. And a few pictures too.
Finally, at age 50, I am still lucky enough to ride my bike around the town I
love. The bike is bigger, but it remains yellow. And I still ride it with the
same excitement and wide-eyed wonder as I did when I was just a kid. My passion
for the community, and particularly the kids, is genuine I assure you. I am
blessed to call Mount Pulaski my home.
Congratulations Teena! Please know you are much loved by all of us at LDN and we
couldn’t be prouder to spend just a little bit of time telling our readers just
how special you are!
[Nila Smith with contributions by Teena Lowery] |
