Dolph James Lowe; Retired Business Owner

Dolph James Lowe, retired owner of Ventura Pipeline Co., died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 86.

Lowe was born May 7, 1913, in Saxton, Ky. When he was 4, he moved with his family to Ventura.

As a youngster, Lowe delivered newspapers every morning on Main Street, and after school he delivered groceries from his stepfather’s store in Saticoy.

He attended school in Ventura and was student body president at Ventura High before graduating in 1932. He was also a tenacious football player, according to his family.

During the Depression, Lowe hoed weeds in the lima bean fields and worked for the local walnut association. Later, he worked for pipeline companies in the oil fields of Kern County. He worked for Lang Transportation Co., Maaco-Robertson of Los Angeles and Alec Robertson of Bakersfield.

Lowe owned Ventura Pipeline and worked throughout the county and state. His real passion was constructing cross-country pipelines that carried natural gas, oil or cement slurry. He retired in the mid-1970s.

He met Josephine Lucille Barker at a football game and they married in 1937. They raised three sons while living in Oak View, Ventura and Ojai.

The family enjoyed camping and traveled as the boys grew up. Josephine died in 1980.

Lowe enjoyed being outdoors. Before the construction of California 33, he hiked with friends to Sespe Creek each year for the opening of trout season. For more than 30 years, he spent a week every fall in the High Sierra fishing and hunting with family and friends. His specialty on the trips was stew and corn bread, but family members said Lowe’s bragging about the stew was even more famous. An ideal vacation for him was two weeks exploring the mountains of the West.

In 1982, he married Frances Metcalf and they traveled throughout America, Europe and Mexico.

His son Tom of Ojai said Lowe will be remembered as a kind and generous man, someone who took delight in making people of all ages laugh.

In addition to his wife and son, Lowe is survived by a son Jack of Switzerland; stepdaughter Darlene Scott of Ventura; stepson David Metcalf of Westlake Village; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation is scheduled at 5 p.m. today at the Joseph Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura, which is handling the arrangements. Funeral services are scheduled at 10 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home’s chapel. Burial will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Lowe’s name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Assn. or a favorite charity.