Murray State University pre-medical students will continue to benefit from the legacy of the late Dr. C.C. Lowry. Beloved physician of the Murray and Calloway County community for 52 years, it was Dr. Lowry’s wish, along with his wife Betty, to establish the Conie Crittenden Lowry Pre-medical Scholarship Fund .

A native of Princeton , Ky. , and graduate of Butler High School , Dr. Lowry was encouraged by his mother to pursue his dreams, saying to him “there’s always room at the top.” He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1940 with a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry. In addition to his keen intelligence, “Crit” as he was affectionately known, was also a campus favorite. At UK , he was a member of seven honorary and social societies including Sigma Alpha Epsilon of which he served as president. In 1943 he earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University . While interning in surgery at Vanderbilt Hospital in 1944, he met his future wife Betty. Then a student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville majoring in bacteriology, she was working part-time at the Vanderbilt Hospital lab. Crit and the other interns quickly noticed Betty’s striking good looks.

Dr. and Mrs. Lowry were married January 27, 1945, while he was finishing his general surgery residency at Vanderbilt Hospital . Immediately following he served as a U.S. Army surgeon in World War II from July 1945-July 1947. He then returned to civilian life and completed his general surgery residency at Kennedy VA Hospital in Memphis until July of 1952.

In addition to her good looks, Dr. Lowry loved Betty for her intelligence. A native of Memphis , she went to work after graduating from Southside High School in Memphis . Since Betty’s father passed away when she was 15, she was financially unable to enroll in college. While riding a bus home one day, she ran into her former high school English teacher. Her teacher then put Betty in contact with a couple in Memphis who awarded scholarships to commendable students. After meeting with Betty, the couple awarded her a full scholarship to any university she chose to attend. Before marrying Dr. Lowry she was planning to become an operating room nurse.

Dr. Lowry became board certified as a general surgeon in 1952 by the American Board of Surgery. It was Dr. Lowry’s mother who informed him of the opening for a surgeon at the Murray Clinic. The opening came after the passing of Dr. Hal Houston Sr., father of the current Murray physician Dr. Hal Houston. Dr. Hugh Houston asked Betty after Dr. Lowry accepted the position if she could handle living in a small town. “He wanted to know if a big city girl like me could live in a small town like Murray. It was a perfect fit,” said Mrs. Lowry.

Dr. Lowry was a member of the American Medical Association (AMA), Kentucky Medical Association (KMA), Southern Medical Association (SMA), Calloway County Medical Society (CCMS), American College of Surgeons, Southeastern Surgical Congress, Kentucky Surgical Society and served in various capacities in local and state medical society activities, including three terms as president of the CCMS. Though he required no praise for his accomplishments, he received many honors throughout his lifetime including a new award recognizing a physician for outstanding community service by the KMA. He was also presented the “Community Service Award” at the 152 nd KMA annual meeting in 2002. Dr. Lowry served his community in many levels, serving on the Murray City Council for 12 years and Mayor ProTem, the Murray Board of Education, chairman of the board of trustees for the First United Methodist Church, held numerous positions in the Murray Lions Club and was named “Citizen of the Year” in 1976 by the Murray Chamber of Commerce. “Dr. Lowry always believed he should give back to the community that had blessed him so greatly in his life,” said Mrs. Lowry.

Dr. Craig Dowdy of West Kentucky Surgical Associates in Murray worked 31 years with Dr. Lowry since his freshman year at MSU. Dowdy says, “ There will never be another Dr. Lowry. He was my teacher, my mentor, my idol, and my friend.  There was never a day that he did not teach me something about medicine, life, morals, or how to be a better man. Doc never said an unkind word about anyone.  He might have said nothing on occasion… but never anything unkind. I would stop by his office at the end of each day for words of wisdom and encouragement, and I never failed to leave his office with my problem solved.”

Dowdy recalls when CT scans were just becoming popular and a patient came into the emergency room with stomach pain. After pushing on the patient’s abdomen a few times, Dr. Lowry simply said, “Well, y’all roll him down to surgery and I’ll take his appendix out.” After the doctor in the emergency room suggested a CT scan, Dr. Lowry smiled and said, “You all go ahead and get your scan and I’ll be waiting in the OR to take his appendix out.” An hour later after the scan Dr. Lowry performed the appendectomy.

Patients of Dr. Lowry used to jokingly say he never let the shot take effect before he made an incision. Dowdy adds, “That wasn’t because of his lack of compassion, it was in the name of efficiency. He had a lot more patients to see and a lot more surgery to do. He just shot it and cut it…and he was the best. He didn’t want to talk about it much. He just wanted to get it done…Doc was one in a million, and time does not make me miss him any less. He was my best friend.”

Dr. Lowry retired from West Kentucky Surgical Associates in July of 2003. Serving as a proctor for MSU pre-medical students throughout his career, he and Mrs. Lowry have been generous friends of the university throughout their 50 plus years in the Murray community. Murray State pre-medical students are honored to be remembered by this outstanding physician and remarkable man. Dr. Lowry passed away in February of 2007. Dr. and Mrs. Lowry have two children, Duane Hamilton Lowry, 1969 and 1971 MSU alumnus of Florence, Ky. , and Conie Lynn Abernathy, an attorney in Memphis. They have one grandson, Sloan Lowry Abernathy, a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Recipients of the Conie Crittenden Lowry Pre-medical Scholarship must be full-time sophomore, junior or senior pre-medical students at MSU. They must also have or maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average. For more information on this scholarship and other endowments, contact the MSU Scholarship Office at 270-809-3225 or at scholarship.office@murraystate.edu.