John Estabrook McDowell

John Estabrook McDowell, a resident of Berwick on the Lake in Nanaimo, was born in Toledo, Ohio. The family moved to Blackwell, Oklahoma before he was a year old. They moved again in 1935, settling in Enid, Oklahoma where his father served as minister of the First Presbyterian Church.

He spent summers at “Tree Tops,” the family cabin in Estes Park, Colorado, and John was at home in the mountains from a young age. He climbed Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park’s signature Fourteener at 14,259 feet, on many occasions, and for a time held the record for the fastest climb when in his twenties.

John graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Geology, having done field work in the Grand Canyon. He was immediately drafted into the U. S. Army. This was during the Korean conflict and John was sent to Germany for his two years of service. While there he took advantage of a rare opportunity to climb The Matterhorn.

After discharge from the Army, John moved to Texas, then Colorado as he pursued his career in the oil industry. A slump in U.S. petroleum in 1967 sent John to Canadian Superior and a job in Calgary, Alberta. Shortly after arriving, he joined a hiking group and met Mary Lovering, a school teacher from Ottawa. They were married July 13, 1968, by his father, who received special permission from the Premier of Alberta. John eventually became a Canadian citizen. During a downturn in the Canadian oil industry, John accepted an offer of work in Libya. He and Mary enjoyed a three-year adventure in the Middle East then returned to Canada, retiring in Nanaimo. He and Mary celebrated almost 30 years of marriage before Mary’s death in 1996.

John and Mary hiked the Canadian Rockies every weekend they could and later explored Vancouver Island. In his 50’s John fulfilled a lifelong dream of reaching basecamp of Mt. Everest at the 17,598-foot elevation in Nepal. John was an avid reader of nonfiction and could tell stories of those early explorers whose histories he read. An accomplished photographer from the time he was a teenager, John developed and printed all his black and white, and later color, photos. These provide an inspirational record of hikes and friends he made throughout the world.

John was named after his maternal great grandfather, John Stewart Estabrook (1826 – 1903), who served as mayor of East Saginaw, Michigan in the 1880’s. John was very proud of his Estabrook name, a family descended from John Alden who sailed to America on The Mayflower. The Estabrook name is carried on with his great grandnephew, Callen Estabrook Overton, of New Jersey.

John was predeceased by his parents, Thomas Howard McDowell and Elizabeth Jacobs McDowell. He was their fourth child. His siblings were Mary Elizabeth McDowell, Thomas Howard McDowell Jr., Ann McDowell Stonebraker, and his younger sister, Winifred McDowell who died in 1932 at age two.

John is survived by a nephew, Thomas Howard McDowell III, and five nieces, Mary Kay McDowell Orff, Beverly Ann Stonebraker Snyder, Judith Kay Stonebraker Fulkerson, Elizabeth Stonebraker Overton, and Dorothy Lois Stonebraker Olson. He was well loved by ten grandnieces and nephews and 25 great grandnieces and nephews, all in the U.S.

John found friends wherever he lived including Bill and Brenda MacDonald of Victoria, B.C., formerly of Nanaimo, who provided valuable guidance and help when his own family was far away. One family was special. Chris and Caroline Burnley of Nanaimo and their children, Jacob and Erin, adopted John as Grandfather and welcomed him at holiday and family celebrations for more than 20 years.

Contributions may be made in John’s memory to Haven Society, PO Box 37086, 38-3200 Island Highway, Nanaimo, BC V9T 6N4.