Lowen retires after decades in Havre Public Schools

Lincoln-McKinley Primary School building secretary Vickie Lowen is retiring from Havre Public Schools District after 28 years in that position and 32 years with the district.

At Lincoln-McKinley, she said, she enjoyed the people she met, the students and the staff.

"We've had an amazing staff at Lincoln-McKinley the whole time I've been there," she said. "Havre Public Schools in general, but our comaraderie at Lincoln McKinley is I can't say anything, but great about it. We just have a great time there."

She said the philosophy that she has always said is, "If we don't have communication then it's not going to work."

To her, communication is key not only with herself, but with the staff, parents, principals and everybody has to communicate, she said.

"I'm  a former 4-H'er and I live by the 4-H motto 'To make the best better,' and so I was always striving to make Lincoln-McKinley the best school in Havre Public Schools," Lowen said. 

She said she can't name one favorite memory while being there because it's been so enjoyable.

"It's been a fun ride," she added. "I never dreamt that I would be there that many years and I have learned a lot, I have gained a lot of just overall respect for the community, for students, for teachers especially because they have a bigger load than anybody ever realizes."

She started working for Havre Public Schools in 1987, she said, as a baker and assistant cook at Devlin Elementary.

She said after that her family moved to Minnesota and she later returned to Havre in April 1988 as she was hired on as a substitute in the clerical and food service department.

In August 1988, she was hired as a helper at Havre Middle School for the food service program, she said, adding that she did that for more than a year.

  "In November '89 I became the first in-school suspension supervisor and secretary to the Counseling Center at Havre Middle School," Lowen said.

After a couple years of doing that position, the position at Lincoln-McKinley opened up and she had been doing that ever since.

Her background, she said, is self-taught.

She didn't attend college, but graduated from high school at Box Elder, where she was born and raised on a farm ranch there, she said.

"When I was in high school the secretary up, and left when I was a junior in high school and they would pull me out of classes to work in the office," she said. "So I did some of that and I don't know if that's what got me interested, but I've always been interested in just doing that kind of thing. I like lots of different things."

Now, being retired, she said, she and her husband plan on spending time with her mother, who is 91, as well visiting their five children and 12 grandchildren.

"I can't thank Havre Public schools enough for giving me the opportunity to be part of their staff and I'm looking forward to what the future brings and maybe help people," Lowen said. "I have a side business gig on the side that I haven't been focused on enough because I've been so busy with my mom, and that and other things. So I'm hoping to get that up and running, and be able to share that with people and teach them how to biohack to make themselves younger."