Nereida Lowe

Nereida Asuncion Santa Cruz Lowe was born in Asuncion, Paraguay where she lived until early adulthood. She was tri-lingual - fluent in Spanish, Guarani, and later, English. After secondary school, she started taking English classes and began work at the American Consulate where she earned a highly competitive scholarship to attend college in the United States. Because it was a Catholic-affiliated university, she chose to attend Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. Exhibiting her usual fearlessness, she traveled by herself to a country where she did not know the language well and to a city where she knew no one. She found her home there and received a degree in Library Science. While in college, she also met her future husband on a blind date. Within the year, they married. Together, Nereida and Stan Lowe were married over 50 years and had two daughters. Although it was certainly a challenge to be a mom with a career, she did so seemingly effortlessly.

Nereida was very proud of being a librarian and she absolutely loved her work - it was highly rewarding and it brought her inordinate joy. She loved reading, working with books, helping people find the right resources, and simply being in a library. She worked as a librarian in multiple settings, including Trinity University, Texas Women's University, the San Antonio Public Library, St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church school library, and Randolph Air Force Base library.

Nereida adored her family. She was a dedicated mother, wife, and grandmother. She was a fierce advocate for her family, took care of them, helped to provide for them, encouraged them to reach for their dreams, was proud of them, and loved them unconditionally. When her daughters were growing up, she also regularly talked with them about the importance of education and continuously pushed them to attend college. It is a testament to her persistent encouragement that both daughters received undergraduate as well as graduate degrees.

Nereida was a lifelong devout Catholic - her faith was extraordinarily important to her. She was a member of the Legion of Mary, and an active volunteer at St. Gregory the Great, St. Peter and Paul, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH). At OLPH, she and her husband served as Eucharistic Ministers and delivered communion to the infirmed at the Methodist Hospital. Perhaps most importantly, she and her husband devoted countless hours to creating the library at OLPH. In recognition of their dedicated service, OLPH named the library after them -- the Nereida and Stan Lowe Library.

Nereida loved to explore and travel, and her husband's job in the airline industry, allowed her and her family to take trips across the country and globe relatively regularly. For instance, Nereida and her family traveled to South America (including multiple trips to Paraguay to visit family and friends), Rome, Puerto Rico, Canada, France, Hawaii and multiple trips to the Holy Land.

Nereida had a joie de vivre that was contagious; she was loved by all who knew her. She was a truly generous and kind-hearted person and greeted people with a smile, a kiss on the cheek, and a friendly word. To her, there were no strangers, only friends. Throughout her life, she regularly stated that she believed she was the luckiest person in the world - she lived her life with this philosophy as her guide.

Nereida is preceded in death by her parents and husband. She is survived by her two daughters, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, three grandchildren, and many dear friends and family in North and South America.

The family would particularly like to thank the communities of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Tiffin House for the love, care, and compassion they showed Nereida over the years.

On July 12, 2015, Pope Francis said in an address during his tour of South America, "God bless the women of Paraguay, the most glorious women of America." A year later, Nereida Asuncion Santa Cruz Lowe passed away. She was indeed a glorious woman and may God bless her always. Vaya con Dios, Mama. Those who knew you loved you and all of us will miss you tremendously.

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