A Tale of Two

When I left you on Monday, Kathy Domphousse  had reported to Detective Menzies of the Vancouver Police Department that her mother, poet Pat Lowther, was missing. Menzies had phoned Kathy's stepfather, Roy Lowther, and arranged an interview for the following day. Then he had gone to work, researching the two people.

Roy was born in Britania Beach, BC and at the time of this event, 1975, was fifty-one years old. As a child, he was described as brilliant and was admitted to university at the age of fourteen. He became a Communist and in 1946 was deported from the United States on the grounds of his political activities in the Berkley, California area.

Once home in Canada, he got married. However, in 1961 he assaulted his wife and wound up in Essondale hospital for two months. That marriage ended in divorce in 1963 - the same year he married Pat Domphousse.

Pat was 11 years younger than Roy. Like him, she was an intelligent and talented child. She had written her first verse at the age of three and won a poetry contest by the time she was ten.

At the age of 16, Pat left school and worked at a series of office jobs. She never gave up on her writing though. An early marriage had failed but left her with her daughter, Kathy Domphousse.

When Pat began to get involved in left-wing politics, she met Roy Lowther. Lowther was an avid environmentalist, before it was fashionable to be so, and this theme showed in many of his poems. He was unemployed at the time. He was managing editor of a poetry magazine for the Vancouver Writer's Guild.

According to friends of the Lowthers, the marriage started very happily. Two children were born during the early years and things looked good.

Roy taught school in Maple Ridge and Coquitlam but was later demoted to substitute teacher and, in 1971, he stopped teaching altogether.  Pat's success progressed though and the marriage began to fall apart.

Pat found solace from her unhappy marriage in her poetry and was finally being recognized for her work. In 1968, her first book was published. But her friends saw that she remained unhappy in the marriage and they suspected Roy was abusing her. Her friends offered to help her get out of her situation. They even rented a truck to help her move.

But Pat was unable to make the final break.

I would like to thank the book Policebeat and its author, Joe Swan, for the information above. I will tell you more about this case on Friday.

Once again, the photos are of the Commercial Drive area in Vancouver.

I hope you find the beauty around you.