BOWEN local Colin Lowcock was in Brisbane recently to attend a Mass to celebrate the 50th year of formation of Catholic Religious Australia, Queensland (CRAqld).
He was there to offer fatherly support to his eldest daughter Mercy Sister Mary Lowcock, who is CRAqld executive officer.
Sr Mary isn’t the only one of the four Lowcock children to devote their life to the service of God. Only son Michael is Mt Isa parish priest.
Talking to 96-year-old Colin, it becomes clear that the Catholic faith has played a leading role in the life of the whole family.
Albert Colin Lowcock was born in Bowen on May 27, 1916, and named after his mother’s brother, Albert, who was killed the same year in France during the First World War.
“He was buried alive in France; they never found the body,” Colin said.
Colin is a walking history book and throughout our talk he regularly drops facts into the conversation about his family, the Church and Bowen.
Most of these historical snippets are prefaced by comments such as “I’ll tell you a bit of trivia” or “Here’s a bit of trivia for you”, but the comments are fascinating glimpses into the past – such as his parents’ wedding in 1913.
“They were the first couple to be married in the ‘new’ church in 1913, and here’s a bit of trivia for you, the builder – Cheffins – quoted 500 pounds to build the church but actually lost money on it and the priest was going to fix it up but he (the builder) said ‘No, that’s the price I gave and I stand by it’ so the priest gave him a gold watch and chain,” Colin said.
Colin’s early years were spent at St Mary’s School, Bowen, in north Queensland, before he completed “scholarship” in 1929.
“The year I sat was the last time it was held in the middle of the year, and here’s some trivia. When Michael sat it was the last scholarship exam,” he said.
With no secondary school in Bowen, Colin’s two-and-a-half years of secondary school were spent as a boarder with the Christian Brothers at Mt Carmel College, Charters Towers.
“I was in the same class as Frank Rush (later to become Bishop of Rockhampton and then Archbishop of Brisbane) and he became a good friend,” Colin said.
“When he was made Bishop of Rockhamp-ton, we went down to his installation and when my wife (Ellen) was in Holy Spirit (home), Frank would visit her all the time.”
Mt Carmel brings back quite a few bits of “trivia”.
“The year I did Junior four boys from the senior class became priests and all were named Kevin,” Colin said.
Colin went to work for Burns Philp, a wholesale trading company, on April 1, 1933, and stayed there apart for the war years for the rest of his working life, retiring at the age of 62 in 1978.
“Dad was a building contractor and I think he would have liked me to become that but I was interested in other things,” he said.
He said when he started at Burns Philp it was the end of one era and the start of another.
“They had just bought their first motorised truck. Before that it was all horse and cart; it all came to Bowen by horse and cart.”
When the Second World War broke out Colin was “called up”, along with many others his age.
“We had three months in then three months out,” he said.
After his second three months Colin decided to “stay in” and when volunteers were called for a new unit, he put his hand up.
Some of the snippets of “trivia” Colin relays from those days share an insight into the faith of many of the young Catholics of the time.
“A few of us were always looking for how to get to Mass,” he said.
Another snippet from a posting in Townsville leaves a stirring impression on the imagination.
“I was a sergeant then and we’d fall in and march down to the church half a mile down the road and then march back again,” Colin recalls.
It was while he was stationed near Charters Towers that Colin met his future wife Ellen.
He was looking for a St Christopher medal and a mate had relatives in Charters Towers and offered to get one through them.
The process took a while but eventually it came time for Colin to pick up the medal.
“I went in to collect the medal and ended up collecting a wife,” he said.
They were married in January 1944.
The couple’s four children – Mary, Janice, Colleen and Michael – were born in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and faith played a large part in their lives.
“Salvation of your soul was the only thing worth worrying about back then,” Colin said.
He said the family would pray the Rosary each day during May, October and Lent and tried to make a point of attending daily Mass during Lent.
“During the Rosary we’d sometimes have to make sure Michael didn’t doze off,” he said.
Colin said the family was also actively involved in local Church life.
“We used to say we were in everything but the Children of Mary,” he said.
When it comes to philosophies on life Colin seems to live his by the question “Are you here to serve or be served?”
It’s a question he believes we all should ask ourselves and a philosophy that seems to have been passed on to the Lowcock children.
And Colin is still serving his local St Mary’s Church community in Bowen.
In 1976 he took on a 10-week stint counting the weekend collections, a job he’s still doing to this day.
When it comes to family faith in today’s world Colin believes it’s a harder time and knows it’s a different world to when his children were growing up.
“It’s the world we live in; we’ve got a god alright but the god is money and prestige and what have you,” he said.
“There are lots of times when you despair and wonder how it’s all going to finish.
“On the other hand I think the majority of kids are good kids and if they get a challenge they will respond to the challenge alright.
“You see it in the (Catholic) Leader and these periodicals, how all these kids love the opportunity to go over to these countries (on mission) so there is something there but for us I think it would have been more religious-based than it is now.”
Colin believes taking children to Mass is an important part of bringing them up as “faith based” Catholics.
And when it comes to the secret of long life, Colin has a simple and somewhat cheeky piece of advice.
“Don’t die,” he says.
