When Janey Lowe, 84, was attending Dallas ISD’s Hillcrest High School in the 1950s, it never crossed her mind that she would one day marry Jack Lowe, 83, who attended Dallas ISD’s Highland Park High School and went on to chair the board of directors of TD Industries, a construction company his father founded in 1946.
“I always liked Jack as a friend,” Mrs. Lowe told The Dallas Express. “I was dating a buddy of his in high school, but I always thought Jack was a really nice young man and very smart. This was in the 1950s.”
Although they both married other people, when the octogenarians recently discovered they were single again at the same time, they decided to wed earlier this year.
“We started going out as friends and found that we liked to be together all the time,” Mrs. Lowe said in an interview. “Honestly, the last thing I ever thought would happen is that I would be married again. We just get along so well.”
Lowe’s first wife, Mary Parker Lowe, died last year in January 2021.
“My deceased wife was a huge animal lover,” Mr. Lowe told The Dallas Express.
A partnership emerged between TD Industries and K9s For Warriors around the time of Mary Lowe’s death.
“What started out as a business deal for TD Industries turned into something so much more — it became personal for those working at TD Industries and the Lowe Family,” said Dani Bozzini, public relations manager with K9s For Warriors. Some folks in my office knew Mary Lowe loved animals and they wanted to do something in her name.”
In honor of the late Mary Parker Lowe, K9s For Warriors named the wellness wing at their Petco Love K9 Center in San Antonio after Jack and his late wife.
While Mr. Lowe had been TD Industries’ CEO and Chairman of the Board since 1980, he is proud to support K9s For Warriors, a nonprofit that provides service canines to military veterans who have been wounded.
“I am a proud veteran and couldn’t be happier and prouder to be supporting K9s For Warriors,” Mr. Lowe said in an interview.
As a young man, Mr. Lowe spent two years on active duty and six years in the Navy reserves. Dallas ISD’s Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary School, in Vickery Meadow, is named after his father and from 2002 to 2011, Mr. Lowe served on the Dallas ISD school board.
“The Dallas school district has made a ton of progress the last 20 years and I hope I was part of that turnaround,” he said.
Although he is retired, Mr. Lowe is still active on a number of nonprofit boards.
“I’ve been on more than 30 boards throughout my career and I’ve been on corporate boards as well,” Mr. Lowe added. “Because I was waking up at night worrying about the world, I decided to retire from trying to save the world and turn it over to my kids.”
Mr. Lowe and his new wife Janey are supporters and advocates of K9s For Warriors in the Dallas community.
“We were looking for people to help us build our campus in San Antonio and TD Industries became involved,” Bozzini said.
TD Industries bid and won but they did more than just win the bid, according to Bozzini.
“They were among the subcontractors who built the Petco Love K9 Center but donated a portion of their work in kind for the project,” she said. “They actually donated their time and did so much work for us at no cost.”
Since its grand opening in September 2021, Petco Love K9 Center has been rescuing and training dogs to become service pets for military veterans.
“We rescue dogs from high-kill shelters through the state of Texas in San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin and then bring them to our Petco Love K9 Center,” Bozzini said in an interview. “We will be pairing our first Texas warriors with dogs rescued and trained this month.”
About 20 veterans die by suicide every day, according to a report published by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and K9s For Warriors is determined to change that statistic.
“K9s For Warriors exists because of a fierce dedication to saving the lives of both veterans and rescue dogs,” said Bozzini. “This program is backed by scientific research and empowers veterans who fought for our freedom to live a life of dignity and independence.”
Military veterans participating in the nonprofit are struggling with invisible wounds of war such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries, suicide ideation, and military sexual trauma. However, after graduating from the K9s For Warriors program, they are often able to live a life that they previously did not think was possible.
“Many have reunited with their families, gone back to school, found renewed enjoyment in life, and significantly reduced their medication intake,” Bozzini told The Dallas Express.
The Mary and Jack Lowe Wellness Center is where the dogs are lodged after they are rescued from shelters.
“We bring them back to health before starting their service dog training,” Bozzini said. “The matching process is done by our Warrior trainers and dog trainers who consider the veteran’s personality, activity level, and match them with a dog that will best meet their needs.”
According to K9s For Warriors data, 92% of military veterans in the program report a reduction in medication and 82% report a reduction in suicide ideation.
“The physiological changes service dogs bring about in our Warriors enable them to thrive while limiting or eliminating the need for pharmaceuticals that only help them cope,” Bozzini said. “Our program is focused on mitigating the debilitating symptoms of service-connected traumas. We validate our methods through tireless research and make breakthroughs every day.”
Among the commands the dogs learn is to ‘brace’ in which they assist a veteran to stand from a kneeling or seated position and to ‘look’ when a veterans’ back is turned towards an ATM, for example.
“Many veterans struggle with hypervigilance,” Bozzini added. “The command ‘stand’ allows the veteran to create a perimeter in public settings and ‘under’ instructs the dog to lay under the veterans’ legs or chair when the dog accompanies the veteran.”
Mr. Lowe is amazed at the work of K9 For Warriors.
“It’s a stunning organization,” he said. “They rescue dogs from being put to sleep and turn them into support animals for military veterans who need some support. Warriors is what we call them. That’s two wonderful things.”