Billie Jean Darr-Lowe

Billie Jean Darr-Lowe, 75, Johnson City, died Monday, November 17, 2008 at her residence. Mrs. Darr-Lowe was a native of Unicoi County and was raised in Johnson City. After graduating high school and Steed Secretarial College, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she worked for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. She married Kenneth Howard Darr in 1958 and they moved to South East Asia, living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Bangkok, Thailand, where she made fried rice for her childrens breakfast and had monkies for pets. In 1967, upon the death of her husband, she moved back to Johnson City to raise her three children. In 1998 she married Richard Donnelly Lowe and together they enjoyed travelling the world and playing with their grandchildren. She was the sixth daughter of the late Green B. and Isabella West Sparks and was predeceased by her first husband, Kenneth Howard Darr, one brother, Harry Sparks, two sisters, Frankie Hodges and Blanche Phillips and two grandchildren, Sophia Katherine Darr and Caroline Andrea Darr. Mrs. Darr-Lowe was a former employee of the Johnson City Board of Education.working in the Library at Johnson Citys Middle School and High School. She was a member of North Johnson City Baptist Church for the past forty-one years. Mrs. Darr-Lowe loved her grandkids, working and playing in the flowers, working in the church, rocking on the front porch and traveling the world on cruise ships. She was a Life Master Duplicate Bridge Player. Survivors include her husband, Richard D. Lowe; son, John Kenneth Darr, his wife, Tracy and their children, Jacolby Kenneth Darr and Dalton Tyee Darr, in Johnson City; son, Karl William Darr and his wife, Kimberly and their child, Hunter William Darr, in Gray; daughter, Andrea Lynne Darr and her fiancée, Steven Thomas in Charleston, West Virginia; grandchildren Natalie Jean Darr and Tiffany Jane Darr in Bristol, and John Kenneth Darr, Jr., in Knoxville; three sisters, Gladys S. Arnold, Johnson City, Ruth S. Brandenburg, Johnson City and Grace S. Barnett, Westminster, SC. A funeral service for Mrs. Darr-Lowe will be conducted at 4 pm Thursday, November 20, 2008 at North Johnson City Baptist Church. Reverend Paul Ritchie will officiate. The family will receive friends from 2-4 pm Thursday at the church.