Adonna Lowe

Adonna (Lungren) Lowe, loving wife and mother of two children, passed away peacefully at home in Derby, KS, November 1, 2021, age 72. Adonna was born on January 6, 1949, in Wellington, KS, to Clifford and Ruth (Cox) Lungren, and grew up Northeast of Caldwell, KS, on the family farm. She graduated with the class of 1967 from Caldwell High School and went on to receive her diploma in nursing from Wesley School of Nursing in 1970. She also earned a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Kansas Newman College as well as a Master's Degree in Political Science from Wichita State University. Adonna married Rod Lowe June 2, 1979, in a private ceremony in Wichita, KS. They raised two children, son Steven and daughter Kelsey.

Adonna always had a passion for nursing, and began her nursing career as a nurse aide in the same hospital in which she was born. Throughout her 45 year nursing career, she progressed through many nursing roles, ultimately reaching Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer. When asked why she went into nursing, she would always answer, "I wanted to make a difference," and she did that in every organization she touched. She was a strong believer in the needs of the patient being paramount, and advocated this philosophy, above all else, at all levels in each organization she worked.

She loved nursing and was top in her field, even being honored as one of the "Great 100" in Texas nursing in 2005. This was the year she was working in Fort Worth, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Evacuations began to neighboring state metropolitan trauma centers, and Adonna took charge of organizing and leading the Dallas-Fort Worth efforts to receive many evacuees seeking healthcare and refuge. Later, Adonna would give a lecture on community nursing about this experience to daughter Kelsey's nursing school class. She also had the honor of capping, nurse to (new) nurse, Kelsey at her graduation from nursing school. This wasn't the first time Adonna had taught nursing to a member of her family, though. In the early 1970s she was actually a clinical instructor to her mother, Ruth. Adonna taught and instructed at many hospital nursing programs and was also a published author in numerous healthcare research based journals; two of such articles being about the efforts in caring for the surge of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Residing later in New Orleans for part of her career, as well as Miami, Florida, she would draw on her previous Katrina experience while encountering two more hurricanes (Isaac and Irma). As senior administrative officer, she directed hospital response efforts from in-house command centers while locked down during each hurricane. Near the end of her career, Adonna was able to combine her passion for nursing and love of traveling by doing interim work as Chief Nursing Officer in many parts of the country from Washington State to Miami, Florida, holding nursing licenses in 12 states at one point.

Adonna, and her husband Rod, both pilots, especially loved to travel in their own airplane. Often, while living in New Mexico, they would pack the children up to fly home to Caldwell for visits and holidays, making sure to overfly family and friend homesteads to announce their arrival home. Many amazing trips were had across the country and beyond. One extraordinary trip even led to an overwater flight, in their own aircraft, across the Gulf of Mexico, over the island nation of Cuba, and onto their destination in the Grand Cayman Islands.

Adonna loved nursing, loved travel, and loved her family. She especially enjoyed later adventures with her grown children and husband. She would always say, "You can't pick your family, but you can pick your friends; and if you're lucky, your family are your friends." Adonna had a great sense of humor, which was seen and felt throughout her entire life.

Adonna was preceded in death by her father Clifford, mother Ruth, and brother Rod Lungren. She is survived by her husband Rod, two children, Steven and Kelsey (husband Kyle Wykoff), two grandchildren, Ava and Marcus, Sister Amy Shoffner, as well as many cousins and nieces.

In lieu of flowers, family requests donations be made in Adonna's memory to St. Jude's Cancer Research or the American Cancer Society. Services will be private.