For many of us, Claudette was the architect of our childhood. She was the fun mom who brought the party wherever she went. Claudette was our joy capsule, our time machine. Her love of nature and her unwavering enthusiasm for making us happy led us to adventures in the backyard and beyond. We swam at Barton Springs, caught fireflies and butterflies, raised chicks, rabbits, and dogs. We were fairies, casting spells and spinning until we collapsed, out of breath. We went camping, we built fires, canoed, took road trips, and hiked. We were searching for tracks, laughing, singing, discovering. She instilled in us all a sense of exploration and adventure. We thought we would find dinosaurs. She made us believe anything was possible. If you had a notion, Claudette was up for anything.

There were disputes. As children we fought like the best of them. This was in the pre-helicopter mom era, but Claudette meted out justice with a penchant for fairness. That part of us that sought to cause harm was met with a harsh and defiant reckoning. You best not bite, hit, start fires, or throw rocks at cars. That’s all I can say about that. These lessons have served us well in our lives. She loved us fiercely.

Claudette’s prowess as a hostess is universally acknowledged. She lived in a castle. She had parties that were unrivalled for adults and children. As a child, attending Easter egg hunts at her compound was magical. We searched for exquisitely died eggs, one of which was the “golden egg.” She assembled string quartets to be the soundtrack for these events. The legendary pumpkin carving parties she hosted with Hugh were magical. Claudette created worlds for us that pushed the boundaries of our imagination. She made us believe that we could do anything and be anything we wanted. How lucky we were that she loved us.

The fabulous Claudette Lowe…who could tickle herself telling her own story until she couldn’t finish for laughing. Lord, how we miss her!

Some people are larger than life, and she was one of them.

My friendship with Claudette began in 1973. She was the first person I met when I moved to Austin. Claudette, Hugh and my husband Cliff had been student friends at UT. In fact I think Hugh and Cliff were roommates at some point. We moved to Austin for Cliff to complete his PhD. Claudette located a house for us ... long before she was a realtor. As it happened, the house, which belonged to Georgia Lucas, was across the street from Claudette and Hugh.

Not long after Claudette and I met, Shelly was born, and a few months later, my son Nick. About six months after Nick, Zack came along. So we raised our kids, along with Jill's and Molly's, together.

And thus it began ... the parties, the potlucks, the afternoon swims at Barton Springs, summer nights of friends gathering at Antone's for music and dancing, sometimes followed by late night skinny dips at Barton's (until the park policemen would politely ask us to leave). We put on massive Easter egg hunt brunches for a number of years, staying up late to make cascarones (before you could buy them in stores), and cooking quiches and fruit tarts with the eggs, then up early to decorate the grounds. We'd drape streamers from the massive live oaks, fretting that the morning clouds might turn to rain, but they never did. Most years when the party was over we'd take the kids and head for a swim at Barton's.

In fact, most summer afternoons we'd load kids into cars and meet at Barton Springs, then stop for early supper at the Holiday House or Luby's. In these days, before central air, a dip in the springs was a great way to cool down for the evening. There were many camping and canoe trips, including one where we camped on a private 27 square mile ranch that encompassed Dolan Falls on the Devil's River. The ranch had formerly been a place for hunters to come and shoot exotic animals, until ownership changed. The animals remained, much to the delight of the children, who'd go out after dark with flashlights and spot deer and gazelles. We took seven children on this trip. We camped in the desert of Big Bend in August ... with seven kids! Back home, Claudette and I had occasional late night visits over wine, sharing our thoughts while everyone else slept. One day she came over with a serious question: if anything were to happen to her and Hugh, would I take their children and raise them? I said yes.

in 1984, when I was looking for a house to buy, Claudette found one, a circa 1915 Prairie style place in the Heritage neighborhood. She called one day to announce in her east Texas accent: "I saw your house today." When my daughter Shannon and I saw it, we agreed. It almost looked as if we already lived there! Years later, Georgia Lucas told me that many years earlier she had located this same house for her newly-wed cousin, Winifred Bailey. At the time we purchased the house from the widow Bailey, we were still living in the house Claudette found for us, which was owned by Georgia Lucas.

So many memories ... in the mid 80s when we lived in Istanbul, Claudette brought Shelly and Zack to visit. Shelly was a tall, beautiful teen and when she walked by, the Turkish boys would whisper, "Brook Shields!" Fast forward to 2007, when I was in Istanbul for the International rug conference, Claudette flew over to meet me after the conference and we took a train across Anatolia. We had our own compartment on the seemingly new train, with big windows offering views of the vast Anatolian plain. Later, we slept as the train coursed its way across the dark countryside, to arrive the next morning in Konya, final resting place of the Sufi poet Rumi. The following day we explored a tiny nearby village where women had once woven a particular intricate, handsome and now rare, flat-weave textile that held symbolic significance for the Sufi devotee. From Konya we flew to Izmir for a few days and a meander along the Aegean coast before heading back to Istanbul and onward to Paris. It was Claudette's first trip to Paris and far too short, but Lora Fountain and Gilbert Shelton each took a day out to guide us around to their favorite places.

When my daughter Shannon married, the wedding and reception were held at the Academy. Claudette and Hugh have always been generous to allow their home to be used for all sorts of worthwhile events and parties.

When my first grandchild, Keenan, was born, Claudette and Hugh agreed to be godparents. As he grew, he and Claudette formed a deep friendship through their mutual love of nature, plants, and all things "bird," including Claudette's chickens. Hugh and Claudette have always been present to mark the rites of passage in Keenan's life.

Last month Claudette invited me to lunch at any place of my choosing for my birthday. She arrived, small gift in hand, and we walked to a nearby cafe, ordered sandwiches and brought them back to eat on my screened porch. It was a sunny day, I opened a bottle of wine and we sat reminiscing, sharing our latest joys and our concerns, as we used to do when our kids were young and we lived next door. She stayed all afternoon and gave me a big hug as she left. This turned out to be our last visit. About a week later she was gone.

This segment of an article came to mind yesterday, written by a friend and former Austinite in Aether magazine, called Defining a Collector:

"Claudette is someone who is loved by everyone and Hugh is a man who begins and ends most sentences with “G*d Dammit”; when Claudette goes out of town Hugh immediately changes their answering machine message to “Claudette’s not here right now, she will be back Tuesday -call back then”. We idolized them and loved that they voted for democrats, went to Boys Town with Ann Richards, lived in a house made of pink granite, had chickens, walked to work downtown, had congressmen to their house, had a lion’s paw lamp, and drove a 1964 ford pickup plus an S-class Mercedes. We wanted to be them."

Claudette and I met when we worked for Bill Smith in the late 1970s. We had an office together and I would hear her talking to people with that East Texas drawl, always laughing and enlivening the space with fun. We had children of similar ages so we got together for functions she had at her house in Travis Heights. She had her eye on the big house across from the house she was renting which had been abandoned. My husband was a contractor so he helped Hugh and Claudette in the early stages of the Academy renovation. The way she renovated that house was the way she went through life. Always seeing the good where other could not and then making the rest of us see it as well.

One of my favorite “Claudette stories” was the time she kept a parrot for a friend. The parrot was outside a lot and every day he would hear Claudette call her chickens to eat “here chick chick, here chick chick…” Pretty soon she heard the parrot say “here chick chick, here chick chick” and all of the chickens would congregate under the parrot’s cage waiting to eat.

I know her family and her many friends will be remembering her and all the joy she generated while we had her in our midst. It is so sad to lose her.

Claudette was the essence of a person of good will. Her work with the Save Baron Creek Association and neighborhood groups made Austin a better place to live. She was supportive of the best values that one can have in communal cooperation. I have a special place in my heart for her contributions to the environmental movement in Austin. I have fond memories of her many efforts on zoning issues and her steadfast support for the protection of Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer. She endured my efforts to keep a canoe afloat on a group trip down Barton Creek when I was Mayor. Fun trip! I am deeply saddened by word of her passing.