Billy Sunday (1862-1935) gets all the glory these days among native sons of Iowa who went on to blaze across the skies of Protestant evangelism during the early years of the 20th century. But Oscar Lowry (1872-1942) was out there on the sawdust trail, too --- and unlike Billy --- he made it to Chariton. That's Oscar at left, looking much as he did during the fall of 1908 when he conducted a month-long series of meetings here.
Lowry, an Illinois native, had arrived in Cedar Falls soon after 1900 with his wife, Mamie. While serving a church there, he teamed up with George Moody, a vocal soloist, and by the spring of 1908, their stars were rising and their reputation as soul-winners had spread across the Midwest.
That spring, the Protestant ministers of Chariton seem to have concluded collectively that their city was in serious need of revival and contracted with the Lowry-Moody team to visit Lucas County for a month in the fall, stretching from mid-October to mid-November.
An enterprise like this called for a tabernacle, so funds were raised and a contract for that temporary structure was awarded to Johnson & Best who began construction during early October on vacant lots just south of the alley on the east side of the square in order to have the building ready for the opening session on Oct. 18.
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By all accounts, the revival was a success and sinners not convicted of their need for salvation at least were sent scurrying for a time. The crowd at the opening session was estimated at 1,000. All the Protestant churches in town suspended their services on some Sundays during the month to participate in union services at the tabernacle. During the balance of the week, services were held nightly and other special events kept the gospel team, their wives and their local associates busy.
As the series neared its end, the editor of The Chariton Patriot attended a Friday evening session to learn about the preacher's stand on worldly pleasures, which he reported upon in his edition of Nov. 12:
"Last Friday night, Mr. Lowry devoted his discussion to worldly pleasures which he regards as sinful, particularly card-playing, theatre-going and dancing. He denounced in very strong language these popular amusements as being wicked and immoral and he has repeated his opinions of them in every sermon since. He holds card-playing as sinful in that it may lead to gambling and he declares that the card game in the home for a prize is assuredly gambling as is playing for money in a gambling house. His objections to the theatre is upon the grounds of immorality also. He believes the players to be outside the circle of decent society and the plays unfit to witness. But he seems more bitter against dancing. All dances look alike to him --- and all are bad in his eyes. He sees nothing but sin and wickedness and indecency in this pleasure which, along with card-playing and theatre-going, he declares, cannot be indulged in by anyone who would be a Christian."
The tabernacle meetings closed on Nov. 15 and The Chariton Leader summed the series up with this brief report in its edition of Nov. 19: "Rev. Lowry, who closed the tabernacle meeting here on Sunday night, received for his compensation in cash $732 besides entertainment and railroad fare. Out of this he paid the singing evangelist $200 so we understand. This did pretty well for a month's work in the vineyard. Something over 400 were led to repentance and promised to lead more righteous lives and the moral and religious atmosphere of the town is purer. It was money well spent."
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The Rev. Mr. Lowry continued his labors in the Midwest, headquartered in Cedar Falls and Waterloo, until about 1920, when he relocated his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mamie Lowry died there at age 45 on March 31, 1924, and her remains were returned to Fairview Cemetery in Cedar Falls for burial.
Oscar continued his work, signing on with the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and --- in addition to continuing to conduct revivals --- took to the new medium of radio like a duck to the water.
He also authored a series of books devoted to sexual misbehavior --- he was against it --- that sold widely at the time. "The Way of a Man With a Maid: Sexology for Men and Boys" is probably his best known title.
The Rev. Mr. Lowry was in his mid-60s during 1938 when he was called upon to revive Calgary, Alberta, and conducted a hugely successful series of meetings there than included a six-week radio campaign. While at work in the mission field there he met and married as his second wife a young woman some 30 years his junior --- Miss Dorothea Smith.
Thereafter, they divided their time between Chicago and Calgary until June 26, 1942, when the Rev. Mr. Lowry was called home at the age of 69 by a heart attack. His remains were shipped home to Cedar Falls for burial in Fairview Cemetery beside Mamie but no tombstone ever was erected and today he is barely remembered in his home state.
In Calgary, however, he still is remembered as the founder of the "Sunrise Gospel Hour" on CFCN Radio, still is broadcast weekly. Dorothea Lowry did not remarry and continued to carry Oscar's flame forward until 1992, when she died in Canada at the age of 91.
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