Hewan-lowe

She may not have taught music during her years at Kingston Technical High School (KTHS), but some well-known Jamaican performers passed through Alma Hewan-Lowe's classes.

The respected teacher died on September 13 in Greenville, North Carolina, where she was visiting her daughter, Karlene. She was 88 years old.

A thanksgiving service for her life took place September 23 at the Coke Methodist Church in downtown Kingston. Relatives of Hewan-Lowe were joined by friends, including Senator A. J. Nicholson, members of the Shortwood Old Students Association and the Kingston Technical Alumni Association.

On September 18, a service took place at the St Marks Church in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, where Mrs Hewan-Lowe lived for more than 40 years.

A graduate of Shortwood Teachers' College, Mrs Hewan-Lowe taught mathematics, English and home economics at KTHS for more than a decade, starting in 1958. Among her students were deejay Delroy 'Scotty' Scott, singer Tyrone Evans of the Paragons and a budding poet named Alan Hope, who would later find fame as Mutabaruka.

Argumentative spirit

Karlene Hewan-Lowe, a professor of pathology at East Carolina University in Greenville, said her mother died from a "serious illness". She said she never lost her argumentative spirit.

"She loved politics, she could hold a conversation on anything political especially if it was controversial," Ms Hewan-Lowe said.

After leaving Jamaica for the United States in the late 1960s, Mrs Hewan-Lowe became a registered nurse and worked at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She retired at age 70, her daughter told The Gleaner.

A Kingstonian, Mrs Hewan-Lowe was married to educator/activist Lancelot Jocelyn Hewan-Lowe in 1947. He died in 2001.

Alma Hewan-Lowe is also survived by a brother, Charles Grant of St Andrew; her son Lister Hewan-Lowe, a disc jockey and host of the long-running 'Saturday's A Party' show on State University of New York's radio station; granddaughter Lissa Hewan-Lowe and great-granddaughter Jaiden.

She will be buried at the Sunset Burial Park in Shooters Hill, St Andrew.