Louise S. Mcdowell

Louise Caroline Sanborn McDowell affectionately known as "Grandma Lou", born November 18, 1898 in Denver, Colorado, died peacefully Thursday, July 19, 2001. She was 102. Louise grew up in Denver under the auspices of her mother Cynthia Bower Sanborn, an accomplished artist, and her father Fredrick William Sanborn, a prominent attorney. She spent her youth in the Colorado mountains with her two older brothers, often writing several pen-pals in France during World War I. In the fall of 1917 she entered the University of Colorado at Boulder where she became a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity and met her future husband Edward Walker McDowell, Married in 1922, they had four children and moved to Texas during the 1930's, living in San Antonio and Austin. In addition to raising a family, her activities included entertaining friends, playing bridge, sewing, hiking and fishing. A favorite photograph shows Louise standing between two tarpon she caught off the Texas Gulf Coast that were more than double her size. After the children were grown, she and Walker enjoyed traveling. On one of their last trips together, they returned home from Europe with a burgundy XKE Jaguar that Louise reportedly drove 120 mph or more on the back roads of Texas. Louise remained active in a variety of past-times and community organizations throughout most of her life, hosting many friends neighbors and family members for an afternoon of swimming in their above ground pool on East Summit Avenue. Her grandchildren, who traveled with her during her later years, remember her bulldog "Tuffy" and the "candy" she always offered to those who came to swim. She will be missed. Memberships included the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association and the Daughters of the American Revolution, She was preceded in death by her husband, Edward Walker McDowell; her sons, Edward Theodore McDowell Skipper and Louis Sanborn McDowell Sandy; her daughter, Cynthia McDowell Tynan; her grandsons Edward Fredrick McDowell, John Hines Tynan Chip, and Walker McDowell Tynan Mac. She is survived by her daughter Margaret Liljenwall and husband Ted; eight grandchildren: Mary Vick McDowell, Carey Tynan, Kaye Tynan Vinson, Caroline Liljenwall Crider and husband John, Pam Liljenwall Imig and husband Gary, Linda Liljenwall Leissner and husband Denton, Erik G.V. Liljenwall and wife Becky, Ted H. Liljenwall and wife Emily; and eighteen great-grandchildren. The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the staff of Morningside Manor who faithfully cared for Louise, especially during the past several months as well as the hospice care staff of Odyssey Healthcare of San Antonio.