The summer of 1955, before his senior year in high school, Lowell was involved in a diving accident at Lake Freeman that left him a quadriplegic with limited use of his arms and hands.  Lowell was not to be defined by this accident nor the fact that he would now spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He caught up with his classes and graduated from Delphi High School in 1956.  He went to the University of Illinois to earn his B.A. and Ph.D. in psychology before joining the staff at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) in 1968. Becoming an expert in cognitive and experimental psychology, Lowell completed important studies on the use of imagery as a mnemonic device, the influence of autobiographical reference in memories, and memory for faces and names. Lowell also collaborated on the development and standardization of neuropsychological assessment instruments, including the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test and the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test.  After 43 years of dedicated service, Lowell retired from the UMBC Psychology Department in 2011. He continued to teach Cognitive Psychology on a part-time basis for a number of years after that as an Associate Professor Emeritus.   

Colleagues remember Lowell as a remarkably kind, thoughtful, sensitive, and generous colleague whose indomitable spirit and levelheadedness were crucially important to the development of the department. Lowell possessed an infectious sense of humor, abundant wisdom, and deep integrity.

Lowell married the love of his life, Donna, in April 1991. Though spending most of his life in Maryland, Lowell and his wife continued semi-annual visits home to Burrows, Indiana, to visit family.  His visits home always brought many family members together to see him. Lowell was always at the center of those family gatherings. He enjoyed playing lively games of Euchre, watching his nieces and nephews, talking smack with his nephews and great nephews about their fantasy football league, and watching any athletic event. In one of the textbooks he authored for his statistics class, he included his family members names as a way to tease them and also because they meant so much to him.

He is survived by his wife, Donna; sister, Joanne Groninger Ratcliff; stepsons, Johnathon Polanin, and Justin Polanin (Tamela); two grandsons, many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.  He was preceded in death by his parents, and his sister, Lois Groninger Powlen.  

Interment of ashes will be at Brown Church Cemetery, Carroll County, Indiana, at a later date.  Official obituary will be forthcoming as well.