Lowwana

This page is about ,

Mary Lowwana Harendt Bigler.

Born on July 17, 1948, in Paris, Texas.

I am the second born of

Dorothy Louise Croy Harendt

&

Robert Lee Harendt Sr.

Every one says that I look like my

great grand mother.

Ada Croy & Lowwana Harendt

What do you think?

My best friend took Ada's hat and put it on me.

Shiela can do anything with a computer.

Thank you, Shiela.

I was named after my mother's best friends daughter.

Mother & dad lived their early years

out in Seagraves, Texas.

Dorothy, mother's best friend, daughter's name was

Lowanna Jo.

She was only four when I was born.

Mother remembers Lowanna Jo sitting in her

lap playing with her long red finger nails.

Lowanna often ask me if mother still has the

long red nails. And of course

she does.

Lowanna Jo & Dorothy Harendt

This is the only picture I can

find of mother & Lowanna.

It was taken in Seagraves, Texas.

I have one brother,

Robert Lee Harendt Jr.

Born on May 10, 1947, in Seagraves, Texas.

I have one sister,

Sharon Sue Harendt Shook.

Born on February 27, 1953, in Seagraves, Texas.

My home was not a happy home as I remember it.

My parents fought most of the time.

And that does not mean that there was not love in our home.

Because there was plenty of love.

I can remember mother telling me all the time she loved me.

Before I went to sleep, before I left for school, she would say,

"I love you."

Any time I left mother's sight.

Bobby & Lowwana Seagraves, Texas

So, I ask her, "Mother, I am only going to school."

Why do you tell me you love me all the time.

Her reply stayed with me all my days.

Because of her reply, I made sure I told my children that I

love them, no matter where we were.

She said, My cousin went to school one morning

and never came home.

She was 10 years old.

Baby Lowwana

She was in the New London School that blew

up. Her mother told me that she never got to tell her she loved her

before she died.

I never want to lose one of my children with out them knowing

how much "I love them."

I started listening for my mother to tell me

she loved me all the time after that.

Bobby-Sharon-Lowwana

Just the fact that mom & dad did not love one another, did not mean

that they did not love us.

I do not remember a lot about dad.

He worked nights most all the time &

slept days.

I do remember that we always had chickens, cows,

horses, and I even remember a goat or two.

Mother said, dad bought a goat just for me.

I could not drink the milk from the cow.

Mary Lowwana Harendt 1970

Dad milked the goat for me to drink.

Dad loved the country, mother did not.

I guess that is why they did not get along.

I love the country.

I have lived in the country with my husband.

We had chickens, pigs, ducks, cows & horses.

Mother & dad

We moved a lot when I was a child.

My dad worked in the oil fields, so we followed them all over

West Texas.

We lived in so many towns. As many as three different towns in one

school year. There was Seagraves, Abline, Oddessa, Snyder, Ganisville,

Guymond, Olka. Hilton, Okla., Whitesboro, & Paris a lot in between

the towns. We would come home, to Paris, sometimes and

live for a few months until the oil rigs

would start up again.

Daddy-Mother-Bobby 1947 Seagraves, Texas

Some how we always came home just in time to

pick cotton.

I hated the darn worms that lived in the cotton

fields.

Some times when there was no oil rigs

to work on dad drilled water wells

in Seagraves.

Robert Lee Harendt Sr

In 1956, Seagraves, Texas, dad was working on an oil deck.

One of the metal pipes fell from the top.

Landed on my dad & broke his back in seven places.

Dad lay flat of his back in the hospital for three months.

I can still see my dad in that bed today.

I was so scared.

We had just bought a new trailer three months earlier.

Sharon-Lowwana-Bobby-New Trailer

We had been to Paris to see our grandparents.

Aunt Shirley came home with us.

I can remember Aunt Shirley helping us carry our things out

into the yard from our new trailer.

We had lived in it only three months.

I sat on a tree stump & watched the men move it away.

Mom moved us four into a one room apartment.

We went to see daddy every day.

Then one day he came home.

The doctors said that dad would never walk again.

But they did not know my dad.

It took a while. He walked with crutches for a long time.

Then one day he just tossed them out.

Well, that was pretty much the end of dad's oil field days.

He got a little settlement of $7000.00.

I guess back then it was a great amount.

We came to Blossom and dad bought a laundry matt.

Back then you did not have a washer & dryer in every home as today.

So we settled I thought in Blossom.

They bought this home & business.

I had hoped that we would never move again.

But not so.

Robert Lee Harendt Sr

The fighting was still present at every turn.

They sold the laundry matt & our home.

Dad left with Bobby for Seagraves.

Robert Lee Harendt Sr & Jr

Mother took me & Sharon.

We moved to an apartment in Paris. Mother worked at the

Chuck Wagon Cafe in Paris.

Bobby & Lowwana Seagraves, Texas

I remember that she always dropped us off at Rosea Person

School. When school was out, she sent a cab for us.

We thought we were something,

riding a cab home.

Mary Lowwana Harendt

That summer came & Bobby wanted to come see mom.

So mother carried Sharon & me out to Seagraves.

We stayed with dad & Bobby came back to Paris with mother.

Wasn't long until mother & Bobby showed up at dad's.

Mary Lowwana Harendt

So, here we go again. They tried to live to gether again.

Dad was drilling water wells for Cowboy Chumley.

They rented a trailer.

We even started to church with the Chumley's.

I thought we were a family again.

Baby Lowwana & Budjo (grand mother)

Surely with God in our life, things had to get better.

They did not.

Dad locked us three kids out side the trailer.

I could hear mother crying & begging my dad to stop hitting her.

I wanted to help her & Bobby tried to beat the door open.

We three just sat there and cried together.

Mary Lowwana Harendt about July '66

We could do nothing to help mother.

Then after it seemed hours, they opened the door for us to come in.

Mother started supper as though nothing was wrong.

But I can remember hearing her tell my dad,

one day my children will be older & I will leave you for good.

Mary Lowwana Harendt about July '66

There was no reply form my dad.

It was as if he did not even hear her.

Wasn't long after that, we moved back to Paris again.

Dad working at a service station pumping gas & fixing flats.

Mother went back to the Chuck Wagon Cafe.

Mary Lowwana Harendt 1962

The battle starts again. Mother has to work nights.

Dad has to work days.

One night ( the last barrel) mother did not get home as soon as dad

thought she should.

Mary Lowwana Harendt Seagraves, Texas 1954

So when she came in he started hitting her.

Mother took her coffee cup & hit him on the head.

Dad came up looking for his gun.

Mary Lowwana Harendt Seagraves, Texas 1954

Mother ran to the neighbor and called the police.

The police cane & carried dad to jail.

He got out the next morning.

Bobby wanted to stay with dad.

Aunt Ruth-Sharon-Lowwana Seagraves, Texas

Mother rented us three a one room apartment again.

This time it was over for good.

It is now September of 1962.

Mother-Bobby-Lowwana-Seagraves, Texas

The next three months of my life was so peaceful.

I could see dad any time I wanted.

He & Bobby rented a house on 33rd street.

Mother-Lowwana-Bobby-Seagraves, Texas

Bobby was going to Paris High down town Paris.

Mother was working days at the Palace Cafe.

We could see Bobby every day.

No fighting.

Dad-Mother-Sharon-Seagraves, Texas 1955

I love my parents so much.

I do not understand why they put us through

so much hell theses 17 years.

Mother--Dorothy Louise Croy Harendt

I never knew if I would be woke by the alarm clock or by the battle.

I promised myself that my children would not have battling parents.

I think that dad really loved my mother.

She just did not agree with him about anything.

He had to be in control.

As a whole, my child hood was not all that

bad. Sure it could have been better.

But it could have been a whole lot worse.

I am thankful every day that my parents loved

us. Even though they did not love each other.

We had plenty to eat, always a warn bed to sleep in,

and mother prayed with us every night.

The good memories far out weigh the bad.

I was so thankful for the divorce.

I love my parents and did not want to see

either of them hurt.

I met Owen Lester Bigler Jr in July of 1966.

My brother (Bobby) Robert Lee Harendt Jr.

brought him home from Ft. Hood one week end.

Bobby promised him a date with me if Owen would take him to Dallas.

I sure gave Bobby a fit for that deal.

However, I sure did like Owen.

So, he came in every week end.

He was from Newville, Penna.

I did not think any thing would come of our dating because

Owen lived so far away.

Well, we fell in love.

Owen & Lowwana in Dallas, Texas 1966

I can still see Owen, just before he went in and told mother

& Weldon that we wanted to get married.

He was still in the Army at Ft. Hood, Texas.

Owen Lester Bigler Jr 1964

Wasn't he handsome!!!

Owen Lester Bigler Jr

Owen got out of the army in May of 1967.

I was living in Garland, Texas with mother & Weldon at that

time.

Our wedding picture.

We got married on a Saturday night,

July 15, 1967, Hugo, Oklahoma.

I have always wanted a beautiful church wedding.

We thought that we might have a church

wedding on our 25th anniversary.

However, the 25th has come and gone.

Owen told me that he knew the first time he seen me,

that I would be his wife.

Owen ask me to marry him after our third month of dating.

I was not to sure.

First thing he told me was our first born son

would be named

Owen Lester Bigler lll,

to carry on the Bigler name.

His nick name was going to be Little Butchie.

That was ok with me.

Then he told me our second born son would be named

Forrest Noah Bigler.

This name is after his brother-in-law that he thought the world of.

Then he told me he wanted a baseball team of children.

I believe that is nine players.

No way.

Well, I almost ran home.

Then I remembered about birth control.

Well, we stopped at four.

They are all special in their own way.

We thank God for each of our children.

They are a blessing each day.

They were the most important thing in our lives

and they always will be.

They are all grown now, but I still want to protect them.

I look forward each day to hear from the children.

Lowwana & Kaye

Dorothy Kaye Harendt Shaw

Born 1-31-66

Kaye gave us our first grand son.

Lowwana & Butchie

Owen Lester Bigler lll

Born 4-18-1968

Butchie will carry on the Bigler name.

He gave use Little Butchie IV

Lowwana & Bear

Forrest Noah Bigler

Born 8-30-1972

Bear gave to use our first and only grand daughter.

Forrest Brittany Bigler.

Lowwana & Isaiah

Shannon Lee Isaiah Bigler

Born 8-20-1975

Isaiah gave to use a set of twin boys.

Christmas 1975, Garland, Texas.

Owen & Lowwana Bigler

1966-until today..........2002

Owen is my closest friend, my husband, my lover, my companion.

Owen is my life, I would be nothing with out his love.

Owen & I have been together since 1966.

A few years, however seems like just yesterday that my brother

brought him home to meet me.

I love him to day as much as I loved him them.

The Lord has been so good to us.

Owen was saved and called to the ministry in February of 1976.

Owen on his way to church.

I would hate to think where we would be with out God in

our life.

I thank God for my husband & my Christian home.