Roland Phillip Loewen

Roland Phillip Loewen passed away April 8, 2005. He was 91. He was born in Hillsboro, Kansas in 1913. His Parents, Katherina Riesen & Peter C . Loewen were American born Mennonites of those who came from Russia in the early 1880’s.

Roland was preceded in death by two brothers, Esko a Mennonite clergyman & Bruno a Phillip Petroleum executive. His wife Lorraine Polson whom he met as a fellow Engineering student died in November 2001 a few days short of their 60th wedding anniversary.

Roland is survived by many nieces & nephews & their children. All have not been family but friends. He also leaves many special friends throughout the world. One very special survivor is Shannon White who was their caregiver in their last years. She became the immediate family they never had.

Roland grew up on a small farm among a group of Mennonites near Newton, KS. He finished high school in 1932 just in time for the depression, the drought and dust bowl of the 1930’s. With limited financial resources he worked at what he could, for a short time he rode the rails as a hobo.

After some nine years he was able to get a degree of Chemical Engineering at the University of Kansas . He often said these many years were the result of about 25% stupidity & at least 75% poverty.

His professional work was all in chemical plants & high temperature electric arc furnace plants in Alabama, Tennessee & Texas. He retired as Vice President of Tenn-Tex Alloys in Houston in 1978.

Throughout his life he had extended interests. These included serious photography, flying light planes, wood working,, writing magazine articles, sculpture & a small part time business of making costly one-of-a-kind jewelry. During these times he did some serious whiskey drinking. Then one day it came to an abrupt end and resulted in many decades of total sobriety.

Jewelry making evolved into an interest in the chemistry of precious metals. After retirement he, with the help of Jimmy Daniels, started a small gold refinery that they operated together in Highlands for some 18 years. During this second career the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of London, England asked him to write the procedures for doing this work. His three small books about this work were published in London.

Later he expanded this to include more information & his larger book “Small Scale Refining of Jeweler’s Wastes” was published in Colorado in 1995. During these years he was helpful in starting small gold refineries in various parts of the world. He and Lorraine made a number of trips when he often gave talks & presented papers on the work of gold refining of jewelry production.

Though no longer able to travel in recent years he continued to do experiments & research on jewelry casting materials. Some of this was with the co-operation of a friend in Australia. E-mail made this long distance collaboration possible. He was fortunate to be alert & in fair health.

A memorial service will be May 7th at 10:00am at Navarre Funnel Home, 2444 Rollingbrook, Baytown, TX. 77521 (281)422-8111.

Remembrances as gifts to Baytown’s Sterling Library will be appreciated. To view the obituary or post a tribute to the family, visit www.navarrefuneralhome.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Navarre Funeral Home in Baytown.