Changes

During Mayor Lowe's first term of two years, the city in 1917 acquired its municipal generating station after a fire swept through the former Minden Lumber Company, the previous owner of the facility.<ref>"[[Connell Fort]] Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City," ''Webster Signal-Tribune'', March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6.</ref> Minden is one of some twenty municipalities in Louisiana in which residences and businesses still purchase their electricity from the city, with profits diverted to finance partially the costs of government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/techasmt/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/005.htm|title=Government-Owned electric Utilities: Municipal Power Authorities and Electric Utilities54|publisher=dnr.louisiana.gov|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

During Mayor Lowe's first term of two years, the city in 1917 acquired its municipal generating station after a fire swept through the former Minden Lumber Company, the previous owner of the facility.<ref>"[[Connell Fort]] Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City," ''Webster Signal-Tribune'', March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6.</ref> Minden is one of some twenty municipalities in Louisiana in which residences and businesses still purchase their electricity from the city, with profits diverted to finance partially the costs of government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/techasmt/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/005.htm|title=Government-Owned electric Utilities: Municipal Power Authorities and Electric Utilities54|publisher=dnr.louisiana.gov|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

Lowe's son-in-law,[[Leland Mims]], also a Minden businessman, served on the police jury from 1953 to 1976, including a long stint as jury president from 1956 to 1973 and as president of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana from 1965 to 1967. The two were on the police jury together for the last year of Lowe's life.<ref name=shrjour>''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', October 6, 1976.</ref> Lowe was like Turner a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and the First [[Methodist]] Church of Minden.<ref name=turnerobit/><ref name=exmayor/> Lowe died of a lengthy illness in a [[Shreveport]] hospital. Mrs. Lowe, the former Clara Dorcas Hodges (1880–1954), preceded her husband in death by fewer than three months. She was the daughter of Edmund William Hodges (1845-1920) and the former Augusta Adeline Applewhite (1849-1946), a couple originally from Georgia who settled in Cotton Valley in central Webster Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hodges-family.org/edmund/d1.htm|title=Generation Three: 41. Edmund William Hodges|publisher=hodges-family.org|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref>

Lowe's son-in-law, [[Leland Mims]], also a Minden businessman, served on the police jury from 1953 to 1976, including a long stint as jury president from 1956 to 1973 and as president of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana from 1965 to 1967. The two were on the police jury together for the last year of Lowe's life.<ref name=shrjour>''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', October 6, 1976.</ref> Lowe was like Turner a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and the First [[Methodist]] Church of Minden.<ref name=turnerobit/><ref name=exmayor/> Lowe died of a lengthy illness in a [[Shreveport]] hospital. Mrs. Lowe, the former Clara Dorcas Hodges (1880–1954), preceded her husband in death by fewer than three months. She was the daughter of Edmund William Hodges (1845-1920) and the former Augusta Adeline Applewhite (1849-1946), a couple originally from Georgia who settled in Cotton Valley in central Webster Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hodges-family.org/edmund/d1.htm|title=Generation Three: 41. Edmund William Hodges|publisher=hodges-family.org|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref>

Matt and Clara Lowe had a son, the late Fred M. Lowe of Shreveport, and two daughters, Thelma Lowe Spencer (1901-2000), wife of the road contractor George Benjamin Spencer, Sr. (1890-1965), who resided in several locations in [[Arkansas]], including Star City,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124567839|title=Thelma Spencer|publisher=''Minden Press-Herald''|date=October 23, 2000|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref> and Rubye Lowe Mims (1904–1975) of Minden, the wife of Leland Mims. The Lowes, Spencers, and Mimses are interred at the historic Minden Cemetery.<ref name=exmayor>"Ex-Mayor of Minden Dies at 83", ''The Shreveport Times'', March 5, 1955, p. 8.</ref> So is his mayoral predecessor, Abner Turner and his wife, Lillian M. Turner (1887-1968).<ref name=turnerobit/>  

Matt and Clara Lowe had a son, the late Fred M. Lowe of Shreveport, and two daughters, Thelma Lowe Spencer (1901-2000), wife of the road contractor George Benjamin Spencer, Sr. (1890-1965), who resided in several locations in [[Arkansas]], including Star City,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124567839|title=Thelma Spencer|publisher=''Minden Press-Herald''|date=October 23, 2000|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref> and Rubye Lowe Mims (1904–1975) of Minden, the wife of Leland Mims. The Lowes, Spencers, and Mimses are interred at the historic Minden Cemetery.<ref name=exmayor>"Ex-Mayor of Minden Dies at 83", ''The Shreveport Times'', March 5, 1955, p. 8.</ref> So is his mayoral predecessor, Abner Turner and his wife, Lillian M. Turner (1887-1968).<ref name=turnerobit/>  

In 1927, the Lowes lost to a sudden grave illness a three-year-old granddaughter, Gwendolyn Spencer, then living with her parents in the Evergreen Community in Webster Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124567790|title=Gwendolyn Spencer|publisher=''The Webster Signal''|location=Minden, Louisiana|date=September 15, 1927|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref> A Lowe grandson, George B. Spencer, Jr. (1925-2007), the brother of Gwendolyn Spencer and a native of Minden, was a [[United States Army]] officer in [[World War II]], a power company executive, and a twice elected member of the Quorum Court in Jefferson County (Pine Bluff), Arkansas, equivalent to the police jury in Louisiana. The junior Spencer retired to Paducah, [[Kentucky]]. He is interred at Graceland Cemetery in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Spencer&GSfn=G&GSmn=B&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=4&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=40629976&df=all&|title=George Benjamin Spencer, Jr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref>

In 1927, the Lowes lost to a sudden grave illness a three-year-old granddaughter, Gwendolyn Spencer, then living with her parents in the Evergreen Community in Webster Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124567790|title=Gwendolyn Spencer|publisher=''The Webster Signal''|location=Minden, Louisiana|date=September 15, 1927|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref> A Lowe grandson, George B. Spencer, Jr. (1925-2007), the brother of Gwendolyn Spencer and a native of Minden, was a [[United States Army]] officer in [[World War II]], a power company executive, and a twice elected member of the Quorum Court in Jefferson County (Pine Bluff), Arkansas, equivalent to the police jury in Louisiana. The junior Spencer retired to Paducah, [[Kentucky]]. He is interred at Graceland Cemetery in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Spencer&GSfn=G&GSmn=B&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=4&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=40629976&df=all&|title=George Benjamin Spencer, Jr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref>

Lowe was succeeded as mayor by J. Berry Sandefur (October 21, 1868 &ndash; July 14, 1954), a Minden merchant who served a two-year term from 1920 to 1922.<ref>"J. Berry Sandefur Buried Tuesday", ''The Minden Herald'', July 16, 1954, p. 1.</ref> Sandefur was a director of the Minden Building and Loan Association when previous Mayor Abner Turner was the president of the association.<ref name=mbl>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xx0bAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA510&lpg=PA510&dq=W.+B.+Lee+of+Webster+Parish,+LA&source=bl&ots=aTrt6WBGaa&sig=Y0wRRG8vc-akcQhhkSvhst4Y6-4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RyYOVd69Mce0ggT7jITQCw&ved=0CE4Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=W.%20B.%20Lee%20of%20Webster%20Parish%2C%20LA&f=false|title=Report of the State Banking Department of Louisiana for the Years 1910 and 1911, Vol. 9|date=1912|publisher=Brandad Publishing Company|location=[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]|page=510|accessdate=March 22, 2015}}</ref> Sandefur is also interred at Minden Cemetery.  

Lowe was succeeded as mayor by J. Berry Sandefur (October 21, 1868 &ndash; July 14, 1954), a Minden merchant who served a two-year term from 1920 to 1922.<ref>"J. Berry Sandefur Buried Tuesday", ''The Minden Herald'', July 16, 1954, p. 1.</ref> Sandefur was a director of the Minden Building and Loan Association when previous Mayor Abner Turner was the president of the association.<ref name=mbl>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xx0bAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA510&lpg=PA510&dq=W.+B.+Lee+of+Webster+Parish,+LA&source=bl&ots=aTrt6WBGaa&sig=Y0wRRG8vc-akcQhhkSvhst4Y6-4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RyYOVd69Mce0ggT7jITQCw&ved=0CE4Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=W.%20B.%20Lee%20of%20Webster%20Parish%2C%20LA&f=false|title=Report of the State Banking Department of Louisiana for the Years 1910 and 1911, Vol. 9|date=1912|publisher=Brandad Publishing Company|location=[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]|page=510|accessdate=March 22, 2015}}</ref> Sandefur is also interred at Minden Cemetery.

==References==

==References==