It is with a great deal of sadness, that the family of Jennifer Lynn Lowe, advise of her passing on February 15, 2018 at the Maison McCulloch Hospice in Sudbury, Ontario, closely surrounded by family.
Jennifer was in the 42nd year of a wonderfully adventurous, active and critter filled life.
Jennifer is survived by Evan, her loving and devoted husband of 15 years, daughter Hunter (14) and Dario, her “movie star” German Shepherd dog.
She is the eldest daughter of Gary and Nancy Trotter of Sudbury and she leaves behind her sister Rebecca DiManno and husband Stephen and their children Lauren 16, Owen 14 and Emma 12, she also leaves her brother Ryan and his daughter Abigale 10.
Mourning her loss are her loving father and mother-in-law, Bruce and Mildred Lowe of Collingwood, Andrea Lowe (Leo), Cheryl Moore, Dave Moore, Judith Tyson, Haley Moore (Justin Holt), Tyson Moore and nephew Nikko Holt.
Also mourning her loss are many aunts, uncles, cousins and countless friends.
Growing up, Jennifer’s life was filled with sleepovers, many friends, weekends with cousins, playing in the bush, camping, brownies, piano lessons, swimming in the pool and animals, lots and lots of animals. Our house was always full of kids, cats, dogs, gerbils, rats, hamsters and the occasional grass snake smuggled in without mom’s approval or knowledge.
Always in love with learning, she went from being an Honour Student at Algonquin Road Public School to an Ontario Scholar all through her years at Lo Ellen Park High School, where she also competed in Track and Field and was a member of the school band.
After recovering from a year long, life threatening illness at the age of 17, she went on to Laurentian University and earned degrees in Psychology and Gerontology and then applied her knowledge working at the Sudbury Alzheimer’s Society.
Longing for adventure, she did like a lot of her generation did at that time, she headed west. Working as a server in restaurants in Banff and Canmore, Alberta, she was able to travel and see a lot of Alberta and British Columbia over the span of a year and a half. She even had the nerve to ask her mom and dad, when they were planning to drive out to Canmore for a visit, “seeing as how you are coming out, would you bring my pet rats with you”, knowing full well that Alberta is a rat free province.
Returning to Sudbury, she put her serving experience to good use serving at “Pat and Mario’s”, “Sheraton Caswell” and finally “Tommy’s Not Here”, where she fell in love with one of the cooks named Evan and as they say, the rest is history.
Evan’s passion was dog sledding and it fit right in with Jenny’s love of animals. Together they slowly built a viable dog team from a combination of rescues, rejects and mutts. After a Halloween themed wedding, they packed their truck with the team, sleigh and all their worldly possessions and headed for the Yukon. Finally, settling about 30 miles from Whitehorse, they built a small cabin in the bush, with a generator for power and a nearby creek for water, they made a home. Their refrigerator was a cavity hewn into the permafrost below a trapdoor in the floor.
As time passed in the Yukon, the girl that wasn’t supposed to be able to have children, due to the chemo from her earlier illness, was blessed with a baby girl, Hunter. After a year and a half of chopping ice from the creek to melt on the wood stove for Hunter’s bath water and missing the family they both knew Hunter needed, they packed up and headed back to Sudbury, sled dogs, a mangy old cat and all their accumulated possessions, eventually settling on a small farm near Markstay.
Jenny was in her element on that farm, loved gardening, raising and showing chickens, goats, pigs and rabbits at the local fairs, and racing the sled dogs in the winter throughout Ontario. All the time, working in Sudbury.
Eventually, and after she and Hunter barely survived a near-fatal car accident, they decided to give up on their rural way of life and move back into her childhood home in town, much to the delight of mom and dad.
Freed from the burden of caring for animals 24/7, they were able to travel and develop and pursue other interests such as mountain biking and Brazilian ju-jitzu, where she was bad ass competitor attaining her “3rd stripe blue belt”. She took those activities to the limit and they made her extremely lean and fit and confident.
Jenny was a great mom and aunt. She loved cooking, especially baking, always having fresh baked cookies or muffins ready for lunches and after school snacks.
No matter how busy her schedule was, Jenny always made quality time for Hunter. Helping her with homework, including Hunter in all of their many interests and teaching and encouraging her to become the confident young woman she is today.
She is sadly missed by nieces Abbie, Lauren and Emma and nephew Owen. They will always remember knowing that when Auntie Jenny was coming to visit, fun was going to be had. They had “Hide and Seek” tomato fights at midnight, card and board games that lasted for hours and lots and lots of just plain fun.
Anyone who came into contact with Jenny, whether it be through work (she was the Medical Secretary for Dr. Richard Benedict for many years) or in one of her varied other activities, considered her a good and loyal friend. She was always there for those who needed her, ready to be a mentor to anyone who she felt needed her.
Jenny’s spirit will always be with us all. She made sure of that without even realizing it, just by being who she was. We will miss her so very very much.
A celebration of life will be held in the Spring or early summer.
In lieu of flowers, Jennifer’s wish was for anyone to have the opportunity to make a donation to assist Hunter with her education and the early years of her life. A GoFundMe Campaign has been set up for that purpose and it can be accessed at www.gofundme.com/hunters-gift-from-her-mom (PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK INTO A BROWSER IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A DONATION)