http://archives.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/files_collection/mc2002.0…
Elizabeth Anna Low, class of 1891, was born on August 21, 1868, the only daughter of Dr. Elisha
Warwick Miller Low and his wife Rebecca Jane Hill. In addition to Elizabeth, the Lows had two
sons, John Vincent and George Lane Low. The family resided in Lime Ridge, near Bloomsburg,
Pennsylvania. Elizabeth received her early education from the Bloomsburg Literary Institute
(later Bloomsburg State College), graduating in 1886. She then attended the Dickinson
Preparatory School for a year before enrolling in the college as one of only five female members
of the class of 1891. As a student Low was active as class secretary and poet, as well as being
the business manager of the Browning Literary Society (the coed equivalent to the two literary
societies) and as an editor on the Microcosm staff in 1890. She received her bachelor of arts
degree from Dickinson in 1891, and three years later she earned a master’s degree in cursu. In
1952, Low penned an account of her student days at Dickinson, entitled “I was a Co-Ed”; the
account is housed in the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections.
After graduation, Low returned to her family home in Lime Ridge and remained there for
the rest of her life. She and her brothers inherited a large sum of money from their parents, and
thus became generous benefactors to the community. Having never married and having no
children of her own, Low was nonetheless keenly interested in the education of the youth in the
Bloomsburg area. In 1959 she and her brother John established the E. W. M. Low Foundation
(in memory of their father) in order to provide education, recreation, and self-improvement
opportunities for area youth; a youth center was built shortly thereafter. Low also displayed her
patriotism by serving as chairperson of Center Township’s Liberty Bond drive during World
War I, as well as being an active member of the Moses VanCampen Chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolution and the Society of the Colonial Dames of America.
In her later years, Low became less active, and retired to her home in order to keep house
for herself and John after the death of their brother George. Elizabeth Anna Low died on
October 24, 1962 after suffering two heart attacks. In her will, she continued her generosity by
providing her surviving brother with $3000 a year until his death, after which time the money
would revert to Dickinson College in order to establish the George Lane Low memorial
scholarship. She had previously given $10,000 to the college to provide for a Moses
VanCampen Daughters of the American Revolution Scholarship in 1961 to be given to needy
students, preferably from Columbia County. Other beneficiaries of Low’s will included the
Bloomsburg Hospital and the Low Foundation. After John’s death in 1971, a grandfather clock
was also donated to Dickinson in memory of Elizabeth.
