Roll Call Tribute

CYPRESS-FAIRBANKS FUNERAL HOME, INC obituary
9926 Jones Rd
Houston, TX 77065

David Raymond Lowry
September 26, 1960 - June 25, 2016

David Raymond Lowry, Houston Texas: September 26, 1960 – June 25, 2016

Born in Dallas, Texas to Kenneth and Deany Lowry, on September 26, 1960, an identical twin to Daniel Connors Lowry and brother to Stephen Wayne Lowry, James Paul Lowry and JoAnna Lowry Booth.

Saturday morning David was suddenly taken from this life to meet Jesus face-to-face. Throughout his life, David pursued the heart of his Heavenly Father, Creator and Savior. Of the hosts who have gone before him, David was without a doubt among the least surprised at what he saw, passing from this life to the next.

David was a devoted husband to Donna Elizabeth Lowry, his wife of 31 years, and the loving father of Philip William Bates Lowry 26, Daniel Kenneth Bates Lowry 24, Kathryn Elizabeth Lowry 15, and Kristen Grace Lowry 12.

David, while intellectually brilliant remained humble. His inquisitive nature made him a lifelong learner and consummate professional. He was kind and generous, often stopping whatever he was doing in order to help almost anyone at any time. David never met a stranger.

David earned his BS (1984) and MS (1987) degrees from Texas A&M University, and took course work toward a Ph. D. in engineering mechanics at SMU. In 1990 David became a registered professional Engineer in Texas with reciprocity granted in other States.

In 2004 David began work at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in the structural engineering division. He was the agency lead of the composites community of practice and the JSC core competency lead of the lightweight materials and structures for future deep space development. He was part of the agency wide NASA Engineering & Safety Council (NESC) for structures and the senior design and analysis team at JSC. David was the technical manager for structures and loads of the Orion human capsule project from concept through the preliminary design review. He has been part of the NASA Road mapping team for future technology advances in structures, materials, mechanisms, and manufacturing in 2010, and again in 2014.

EXCERPTS FROM DAVID’S FIRST PERFORMANCE REVIEW AT NASA - 2004

Mr. Lowry quickly and effectively assumed his new responsibilities and performed his assigned duties very well since arriving in January of this year, thereby exceeding all performance requirements for the evaluation period...

For his excellent contributions in analytical support during an in-flight maintenance on the treadmill and vibration isolation system, he was awarded a “Going the Extra Mile” award from the Division. That piece of crew exercise equipment is critical in maintaining the crew’s physical fitness for operating the Station and also for preventing permanent physiological damage. It has been called the single most important piece of GFE on the ISS. David has proven himself to be a dedicated and highly capable engineer willing to make the sacrifices necessary for NASA to achieve its goal for return-to-flight. His responsibilities require insight, leadership, engineering judgment, and the ability to communicate and coordinate very complex issues between the design organizations, operations, contractor groups, and management. David’s technical skill and engineering judgment, as well as effective people skills, helped him to quickly become a contributing member of the team. His peers at JSC and the contractor organizations have quickly grown to respect his technical expertise and value his insight. He is a true asset to the organization and provides critical technical expertise to the branch.

David came to NASA from the private consulting industry where he served as the principal investigator at General Dynamics/Lockheed of a multi-year project to extend structural Life for the F-111 Aardvark. David helped with the design, analysis, test, and mfg. of the F-22 Raptor structures and mechanisms. He also developed an image analysis based elastic-plastic strain gage, an interwoven fiber optic strain and health monitoring application for composite layups, and performed some of the first crack growth characteristics testing of C255 (prototype Aluminum Lithium alloy) for the USAF.

David was published in the fields of fiber optic strain measurement, impact dynamics for composite materials, fastener hole life extension, and numerous internal USAF reports regarding fracture mechanics evaluation and inspection procedures of F-111 and F-22 mechanical systems and structures.

Of David’s life accomplishments, nothing was more important to him than his family and his relationship with Jesus Christ. David and Donna loved their four children, filling their lives with outdoor activities, team sports, high school band, tea parties and dolls. As a member of the Board of Directors of Christian Witness Crusade, David led the CWC Bible Institute’s pastoral leadership program in Africa and was planning a trip to Zambia this fall.