Wayne Lowe

Mr. Ansley Wayne Lowe of Westfield, Stokes County, NC, the beloved husband of Barbara Love Lowe and the devoted father to two sons, Kenneth and Bruce, died peacefully Friday, November 16, 2018, at his home.  He was 90 years old.  Mr. Lowe was well known as a top-notch car salesman; NASCAR fanatic; unparalleled shade-tree mechanic; and storyteller extraordinaire.  He lived his entire life in the same home in Westfield, where he had been born and raised.  Mr. Lowe was the owner and operator of Lowe’s Auto Sales and had worked 18 years as a salesman for Bill Simmons Ford in Pilot Mountain.  Mr. Lowe started Lowe’s Auto Sales after retiring from Simmons in the 1980s.  Lowe’s Auto Sales was long known as a social gathering spot for Mr. Lowe and his peers in the Westfield community.  During his time at Simmons Ford, Mr. Lowe was consistently the top salesman and was renowned for his commitment to customer service and care.  Most of Mr. Lowe’s customers bought all their cars from him during the years he worked at the dealership.  He had a stellar reputation for honesty and fair-dealing.  Mr. Lowe was well known for his generosity.  He regularly gave back to the community as a member of the Westfield Ruritan Club and as a founding member of the Westfield Volunteer Fire Department.  He also served on the Board of Directors of the Westfield Medical Center.  A member of Westfield Baptist Church, Mr. Lowe was a long-serving deacon, served on numerous committees, and regularly attended Sunday school.  Mr. Lowe, the son of Roy and Hattie Lowe Inman, was raised from an early age by his grandparents, Alice and Luther Lowe.  Mr. Lowe’s grandparents operated a general store and gas station near the Lowe family home in the same building that later in his life housed Lowe’s Auto Sales.  Mr. Lowe’s grandfather also served as Justice of the Peace.  Growing up, the family’s general store doubled as a wedding parlor, court room, and legal office.  It was during those formative years that Mr. Lowe learned to enjoy the company of others and mastered the art of storytelling.  Mr. Lowe met his wife of 72 years, Barbara, in 1945.  They were married a year later.  During their early years, and as they began to raise a family, they supported themselves by raising tobacco on the Lowe family farm.  Mr. Lowe enjoyed working the farm, plowing behind his favorite mule or riding his Allis Chalmers tractor, but a bad case of asthma eventually forced him out of the tobacco field and into the showroom at Bill Simmons Ford.  Mr. Lowe had a passion for all things automotive.  Owner of 11 collectible cars, he was an avid stock-car racing fan, following NASCAR from its formative years to present day.  In addition to selling automobiles, he was an excellent mechanic and could take an engine completely apart and put it back together again.  Well into his 70s, Mr. Lowe painstakingly restored an old, abandoned Ford tractor that he’d found nearby his home.  An avid reader, Mr. Lowe routinely read five newspapers a day and never missed local and national television newscasts.  He was always well versed in current events.  In addition to his love of NASCAR, Mr. Lowe closely followed the football and basketball teams at the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, where his two sons graduated from college.  His eldest son, Ken, is the founder of lifestyle television channel HGTV, and retired chairman and chief executive officer of HGTV’s former parent company, Scripps Networks Interactive.  Mr. Lowe’s younger son, Bruce, was a successful sales executive for 3M.  Bruce Lowe, tragically, preceded Mr. Lowe in death in 2004.  Mr. Lowe is survived by his wife, Barbara Love Lowe; a son, Kenneth W. Lowe and his wife, Julia, of Sea Island, GA; a grandson, Brandon Allen Lowe and his wife, Tricia, of Westfield; a daughter-in-law, Teresa Ashbaugh Lowe of Beaufort, SC; a step grandson, Michael Rentz and his wife, Jennifer, Beaufort, SC; a step granddaughter, Tracy Rentz and her husband, Paul Robins, of Columbia, SC; two great-step grandchildren, Michael and Tyler Rentz of Beaufort, SC; a sister, Barbara Jean McMillan of Pilot Mountain; and several nieces and nephews.  A celebration of Mr. Lowe’s life will be held November 20, 2018, at 2:00 PM at Westfield Baptist Church.  Rev. Brian Chilton and Dr. Charles Howell will officiate.  Interment will follow in the church cemetery.  The family will receive friends from 1:00-2:00 PM at Westfield Baptist Church. Gifts in Mr. Lowe’s memory may be made to the Westfield Baptist Church, 6713 Westfield Road, Westfield, NC  27053; or the Bruce Lowe Scholarship Fund at North Carolina State University, c/o Poole College of Management, NC State University, Campus Box 7474, Raleigh, NC, 27695.