Jarman Lowder

Remembering a Beloved Wife, Daughter, Mother, and Community Leader

Jarman Fearing Lowder, known to so many in Birmingham as a beautiful, loving, and active person all her life, passed away in March following a long illness with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. She was a registered nurse, mother of three daughters, avid reader and enthusiastic traveler, charity and church volunteer, animal lover, runner, swimmer, cyclist, snow skier, and scuba diver. She was also a dedicated supporter of UAB for many years, along with her husband, Tom.

The UAB community was deeply saddened by the news of her death. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Edna Jarman Fearing and Dexter E. Fearing, Jarman Lowder graduated from Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga and later moved to Winter Haven, Florida, with her family. In 1973 she graduated from UAB with a nursing degree and worked as an R.N. at St. Vincent’s Hospital. She married Thomas H. Lowder in 1974 and soon became a full-time mother to raise their three daughters, Brooke, Heather, and Kelly.

Lowder was active in volunteer work, receiving the Clara Barton Award from the American Red Cross as the top volunteer. She also received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from UAB and was a member of the Board of Visitors of the UAB School of Nursing. In 2001, she and Tom pledged $2 million to the Campaign for UAB to create the Jarman F. Lowder Endowed Scholarship in Nursing. The Lowders have also supported UAB by offering the lead gift to establish the Albert F. LoBuglio Endowed Chair for Translational Research in the School of Medicine.

“Jarman was a wonderful and generous person who was an inspiration to all who knew her,” says Shirley Salloway Kahn, Ph.D., vice president for development, alumni, and external relations. “She was an avid supporter of UAB, and the endowed scholarship in the UAB School of Nursing that was established by Jarman and Tom will serve as a lasting tribute to her love of her profession and her school as well as her desire to help others pursue their dreams. Her compassion for others is what made her such a wonderful nurse, wife, mother, and friend.”

Maintaining the Momentum / Summer 2011