Outskirts Press, INC.

The Adopter of Lamar County, Texas Pays Tribute to a Past Resident

They called him “Pa Mel.” Tall, stout, scarred and nonchalant are character traits attributed to him. Son, Democrat, corporal, train engineer, and nonagenarian are some of the nine lives that he lived. Yes, the life of Melvin Lowe was a Texas-sized saga. Denied an education, he, like many a child in Paris, had all the trappings of a simple and unremarkable boyhood in Lamar County. The First World War granted him the opportunity to leave East Texas for another Paris, its French namesake. He returned all the wiser as an honored veteran.