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Service:
Monday, April 5, 2021 at 1 p.m. at the Historic
Gillett Farm in Elkhart. Reception to follow.
Funeral home:
Fricke-Calvert-Schrader, Lincoln
Obituary
Ila Hunter Lowman, daughter of
Elkhart, long-time resident of both Lincoln and
Springfield, died peacefully in her sleep on March
8, 2021 in Los Angeles. She was 91 years old.
For nearly thirty years she was the owner and
operator of Ila’s Beauty Shop, originally in
Elkhart, then for many years in Lincoln. She closed
the shop as the weekly shampoo-and-sets of one
generation gave way to the bi-monthly trims of the
next, and that particular era of beauty parlor
social clubs came to a close.
Ila loved a road trip, and was proud to have visited
nearly every state in the contiguous 48. She never
troubled herself with a European bucket list, as
there was “too much to see right here.” She was a
pioneer in non-conformity, and proudly told fuchsia-
or purple-haired millennials that she had pink hair
back in the early 60s, and red and green for
Christmas! Asked in 2019 if she’d like to revisit
that look, now that the colors were vibrant and
options endless, she said, “Nah.
Now everyone’s doing it.”
During her long life, she truly never met a
stranger. No matter where she was—in line at the
post office, on a city subway, sitting in church—she
engaged with people and made connections. It is
truly impossible to fathom how many lives she
touched. She was honest and kind, unfettered and
unfiltered, sweet and prickly and fierce and so very
funny. Ila was absolutely one of a kind, and she
wouldn’t have had it any other way. Certainly all
those who knew her loved her all the more for that. |
Ila is preceded in death by her
parents Edward and Helen Hunter, husband Dale
Lowman, several brothers and sisters, and daughter,
Bonnie England. She leaves behind sons Robert
Broughton and Bruce Lowman, daughter Rebecca Lowman,
sister Wilma Hunter, grandchildren Angela Madden,
Alec Broughton, and Zac Lowman, great-grandchildren
Zane Schultz, Zoe Madden, Zoey and Harper Lowman,
great-great-grandchildren Piper and Declan Schultz,
many nieces, nephews, and many more great- and
great-great- nieces and nephews, all of whom she
loved dearly.
A Memorial will be held on Monday, April 5, 2021 at
1 p.m. at the Historic Gillett Farm in Elkhart, with
a reception following the service.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her
name to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, where,
in her youth, she received life-changing orthopedic
treatment.
Click here to send a note of condolence to the family of Ila Hunter
Lowman
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