Lowell Root: proud legacy

When Waseca resident Lowell Root died in February of this year, he left an impressive legacy.

His contributions to the community and his family were immeasurable. In the 1940s and ‘50s, he worked with his father, Enoch, and brothers to develop housing on what are now Ninth and Tenth Avenues Southeast. He worked at two of Waseca’s primary founding businesses, E.F. Johnson and Herters. He was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He and his wife Beverly raised a family of four: Brad, Brenda, Brian and Blaine. He worked in construction for more than 20 years with his brothers Leland and Lyndel, specializing in laying concrete.

And through it all, he was a staunch and determined supporter of the community’s three veteran organizations, all of which he joined: the V.F.W., the American Legion, and the Eagles.

Lowell’s son Blaine remembers the pride and dedication his parents showed during his childhood, both taking part in the V.F.W.’s marching units–his mother with the auxiliary. Lowell also served unfailingly on the V.F.W. “Honor Guard,” the group which attends the funerals of service members and veterans. When he retired from the honor guard in 2017, he was recognized for 65 years of service with the group.

This dedication was rooted in Lowell’s 3-year stint in the Army. He was drafted during the Korean War and stationed in Mannheim, Germany.  He told the story for decades of how, when he arrived at the “Hell on Wheels” tank brigade, leadership was a bit uncertain what to do with him. “He told them he knew how to drive a jeep,” Blaine reveals, “so they decided he would be their driver.”

For the next three years, whatever the temperature, Lowell transported brigade members to a wide variety of destinations–airports, train stations, maneuvers, housing, medical treatment. He achieved the rank of corporal during his service. “He used to say, those old canvas-topped jeeps had no heat. They were definitely not meant to be driven year ‘round,” remembers Blaine. He also recalls Lowell’s cryptic statements about the area around Mannheim. “He said it was all blown apart, just a complete mess,” he says.

Lowell’s dedication might be surprising considering a number of factors. Perhaps most importantly, he was a newlywed, having married Beverly in June of 1951. Furthermore, within the span of two years or less, not only was he drafted, but so were two of his brothers, Wendell and Leland. Their brother Lester, a fourth son to their parents Enoch and Lillian Root, volunteered, leaving the couple with only one son, Lyndel, at home. All this just as work was getting underway on the building project in the southeast quadrant of Waseca.

However he acquired it, though, Lowell’s pride in his military service and his dedication to the veteran organizations was unceasing. 

“My siblings and I grew up seeing that,” says Blaine. He credits his father’s patriotism as one of the reasons both he and his brother Brian eventually also joined the military. Brian signed on with the Air Force and served for six years. Blaine enlisted in the Army, “Same as my dad!” and went on to serve for most of 28 years, first as a mechanic, then in administration, logistics, and eventually special operations. During his service he traveled all over the world, and can name off an extensive list of countries where he’s been.

Home in Waseca, now, for most of 10 years, Blaine regularly joins the V.F.W. Marching Unit, and was even able to march alongside his dad for a number of years. He had already made a habit of doing so when he was at home on leave throughout his service.

Blaine can boast an important record of his own: not long after he and Brian joined the military and met eligibility requirements, Lowell purchased them lifetime memberships in Waseca V.F.W. Blaine is the organization’s youngest ever lifetime member, having joined before the age of 20.

Despite–or perhaps because of–the extent of Blaine’s travels, he says his mother and father visited him at nearly all the bases where he was stationed: Kansas, Indiana, Alabama, Belgium. Even after Beverly’s death in 2003, Lowell visited twice in Alaska.

“He would always want to eat in the mess hall,” remembers Blaine. The topic of meals would come up, he says, and his father would declare they could do no better than dining on base.

All that while, Lowell continued his maintenance and construction work, laying concrete for A.B. Systems out of Rochester as his full-time job, and offering evening or weekend work with his brothers Leland and Lyndel.

Blaine points out that it is easy to find Waseca sidewalks with the inscription “Root Brothers” testifying to their prolific work. All the while, Lowell continued to support fellow veterans. He assisted with the expansion of the V.F.W. without charging for his work. “He would do anything for the V.F.W. and the Legion,” Blaine recalls. “If there was ever a veteran in need of concrete work, I know he was glad to help them out.

“He had an absolutely selfless love for his country. He was a good, caring man.”

Along with all those legacies, Blaine takes pride that he now owns one of the houses built as part of the Ninth and Tenth Avenue construction project back in the 1950s.

And speaking of legacies, he and his brother Brian both take part in the V.F.W. marching brigade and honor guard. After all, that’s the kind of thing a lifetime member would do.