JEAN MARY HAMILTON LOW
Jean Mary Hamilton Low died of complications from Alzheimer's disease on November 9, 2019. She was born on May 3, 1942 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, of John “Jack” Hamilton and Ruth Clarke Hamilton, beginning a life journey around the world. As a toddler she experienced World War II, retreating from the enemy with her family and her father Jack - in service as an employee of Hindustan Aircraft, Ltd., helping the Allies over the “Hump” – from China to Burma to Bangalore, India, After the war the family settled in the New Orleans area, living in Lake Vista, on Newcomb Blvd., in the Tchoupitoulas Cedar Grove Plantation house and Norco. She attended St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church. Jean graduated from St. Martin’s Episcopal High School in 1958, thereafter attending Newcomb College. Her studies interrupted by marriage, Jean followed her husband to Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, South Africa. After divorce and remarriage Jean resided in Rhodesia, managing a fishing camp on the Zambezi River, during the Rhodesian Bush War or Zimbabwe War of Liberation. She returned to Moose Jaw, then New Orleans, to resume her studies at Newcomb. She earned a BA, MA and then a PhD in Developmental Psychology in 1987. Jean then began her educational career, teaching at the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Oklahoma, West Texas A&M University, in Amarillo, Texas and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Jean Low retired from her 22 years of higher education in 2009 and settled down in her beloved Tchoupitoulas Street home in New Orleans to care for her dogs, work her jig saw puzzles, read her mystery books and to publish her own novel “Death on the Bank of Two Rivers” in 2012. She is survived by her siblings Kathleen (Sam) Landry and John (Conchita) Hamilton, her three sons “Metairie” Michael (Camille) Tifft, “Kenyan” Kevin (Kate) Tifft and “Rhodesian” Ronald (Patricia) Low, grandchildren Mary Grace, Matthew, Catherine, Reilly, Delaney, Keely, Kyle, Tristan, Dylan and Jackson, nieces and nephews Sam (Kalaya), John (Tet), Kathleen (Sean) and Lynn (Carl). The family would like to thank her loving sister Kathleen and her care givers and friends at Ormond Nursing and Care Center for their dedication and devotion to Jean in her final years. Please consider a donation in Jean’s name to the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library: https://squareup.com/store/fnopl/ or Zeus’ Place, https://zeusplace.com/
