Mount Pulaski’s Fall Festival Parade Grand Marshal -Teena Lowery, smiling all the way, every day

 

[September 17, 2018] 

This weekend was Fall Festival in Mount Pulaski. It is a wonderful time for the residents there as it becomes a homecoming of sorts with friends and family gathering in the downtown area, some who have remained a part of the tapestry of the town, and others who have chosen to live elsewhere, but always come home to Mount Pulaski.

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.

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]