Remembering Don Lowe: A story of radiating compassion | Oct. 8-14, 2025

In May, former Real Change vendor and beloved South Seattle community member Don Lowe passed away, just a few days before his 77th birthday. A certifiable polymath, Lowe was known for his veracious reading habits, stalwart sense of justice and humble demeanor. He is survived by his cats Norma and Guy, his brother Mike, nieces and nephews and a close-knit group of friends, dubbed the Dawn Circle Friends.

Lowe sold Real Change for about 10 years at the Columbia City PCC before retiring in 2023. His gentle attitude and relentless curiosity quickly attracted a loyal customer base.

Maureen O’Neill, a South Seattle neighbor, recalls first meeting Lowe outside the old PCC store. Lowe shared his extensive life history with O’Neill, and she was struck by his work ethic and erudite nature. The pair traded book recommendations and stories as they got to know each other over time. 

“Hee would stand kind of like a sentry at the door,” O’Neill said. “His weight was always on both feet, his legs. I mean, he was so strong, he just stood there for hours.”

When Lowe wasn’t selling the paper, he was often reading. Before he passed away, he entrusted the Dawn Circle Friends to catalog more than 4,000 books in his personal collection, which he donated to local school libraries. Dennis Wilbert, another friend and customer, recalled Lowe’s dedication to knowledge and the printed word. Even when he was living in his van or a tent, he would read every issue of Real Change cover to cover and create his own archive of the newspaper.

“He was so committed to books and so committed to what he was doing,” Wilbert said. “He was homeless, living under a bridge on pallets, and he was spending something like, I calculated, over $50,000 in 10 years just on making sure his books had a home.”

He was also a doting, selfless parent to his two cats, spending most of his remaining income and time on them. At one point during a dispute with his landlord, he even threatened to go back to homelessness if it meant losing them.

Lowe grew up in the South End, attending and graduating from the Renton School District. He then attended Cal Polytechnic State University, where he studied mathematics, a passion he maintained throughout his life. Lowe worked a variety of different jobs throughout his career, including stints at Timberland Library System and the Department of Social and Health Services. His intellectual interests ranged widely, from philosophy to astrology to current affairs to the classics. Wilbert remembers Lowe had an excellent memory and could recall entire paragraphs he had read. He also had an interest in arcane knowledge, crafting birth charts for some of his friends.

Throughout his life, Lowe remained a dedicated activist, always attentive to the social issues of the day and critical of authority. He joined protests at the University of Washington campus against the war in Vietnam and visited Nicaragua to show solidarity with people affected by the violence of the Contras. Lowe also joined Pastors for Peace, driving trucks of humanitarian aid from Seattle to Mexico’s gulf coast to be shipped to Cuba.

Later in life, Lowe became a cab driver, a job that became increasingly difficult due to his health challenges. He ended up getting evicted and became homeless in the early 2010s. That was when he became a Real Change vendor. After a year or two living under a bridge in Georgetown, Lowe managed to secure an old van from his friend Frank Keller. 206 423 6010

According to Frank, Lowe had an intellectual interest in “sort of studying the homeless subculture,” with the vast majority of his income going to pay for storage of his books. But the years of homelessness also took a toll on him. Wilbert said that even after he became housed again, Lowe still identified strongly with the political identity of being homeless.

Extrodinary kindness turns extrodinary 

Around fall 2019, O’Neill stopped by to talk to Lowe on her way to the grocery store. In what was almost a spur of the moment question, she asked if Lowe would be interested in receiving help to obtain housing. Lowe agreed, and began collecting names and email addresses of interested friends and customers. In November of that year, around 20 people met for the first time with one mission: To help get Lowe off the streets. 

The group would quickly become the Dawn Circle Friends, a name chosen by Lowe himself. Eventually, it would expand to more than 50 supporters pitching in monthly to pay Lowe’s rent, with contributions ranging from $5 a month to $1,000. Lowe sometimes asked the group “Why me?,” reckoning that there were others in even greater need. But the circle was united by the belief that all people were deserving of a home.

That practice of generosity transformed the ragtag group into a truly interconnected community. Ginny Greeno, another member of the Dawn Circle Friends, admits that the group didn’t know what it was getting itself into. From financial logistics to securing a supportive landlord, there was a lot of labor that went into maintaining the circle. Members would visit Lowe almost every day, just to check in and spend time with him. When one Circle friend got burnt out, another stepped up and filled the role. But despite all the difficulties, Greeno said she was proud that the group never missed a rental payment during the five and a half years they housed Lowe.

After Lowe passed, Dawn Circle Friends connected with SHARE/WHEEL’s Homeless Remembrance Project, which held a public celebration of Lowe’s life on Aug. 30 outside the Columbia PCC. Friends and family of Lowe shared their memories of him, and the organization installed a copper memorial leaf in his honor. 

For Anitra Freeman, a member of the Homeless Remembrance Project, the Dawn Circle Friends’ acts of compassion and generosity were an inspiration. It also showed that simple acts of kindness, like those of the Dawn Circle Friends, was not that of heroes but just ordinary people taking action.

“There are ways to meet homeless people and talk to them and get to know them that are safe and comfortable,” Freeman said. “You can take a meal or blankets out to a tent city and get to know people. You can get involved in a local meal program  where they serve meals to homeless people, and then sit down and eat with them.”

After Lowe passed away, the circle donated the remaining money to SHARE/WHEEL and Real Change in his honor. Members of the group shared reflections of their time with him as well as the work they had done to support him. One described it as “a kindness that reverberated.” Another brought up a note from Lowe to the circle that called on them to value the power of knowledge to fight back against injustice.

“Do not fear poverty,” Lowe had written. “It is an honest way to live in a society of conspicuous consumption. True understanding will make you dangerous … Your danger is your knowledge and truth.”

For Greeno, Lowe’s legacy was that of authentic presence; a commitment for herself and others to step up, be in community and care for each other.

“The big legacy, which is what we leave to each other, is how much we’re willing to show up,” Greeno said. “And Don, even though he frustrated the hell out of me a lot of the time, he showed up with his whole self. And I think that’s the gift we all give to each other.”

 

Read more of the Oct. 8-14, 2025 issue.