Lowen Poock
By Ron Hayes
BRINY BREEZES — For a time in the 1990s, Lowen Poock, a certified public accountant from Des Moines, Iowa, stayed at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Manalapan while he worked on a special project for Meisner Electric in Delray Beach.
Every day, Mr. Poock drove along state road A1A, passing through Briny Breezes on his way to and from work.
“I wonder what this place is about,” he thought, stopped in and bought a home.
Two years ago, he retired permanently to his Briny Breezes home and immediately put his expertise to work by volunteering as a town alderman.
Mr. Poock served as chairman of the town’s audit committee from September 2010 until Aug. 9, when he suffered a heart attack and died. He was 70.
Lowen Karl Poock was born on Aug. 12, 1941, in Waterloo, Iowa, and grew up in nearby Readlyn. At 17, he joined the U.S. Navy and served honorably from 1959 to 1962.
After his military service, Mr. Poock attended Drake University and the American Institute of Business, both in Des Moines, and embarked on his career as a certified public accountant. He was an avid cyclist who rode in the Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, an annual seven-day event; a snow skier who enjoyed winter trips to Colorado; and a traveler who cherished his visits to Germany, Austria and Russia.
Above all, though, Mr. Poock loved baseball.
“We met when he was walking by my place and I teased him about his New York Yankees cap,” remembers Kevin Dwyer, a neighbor and friend. “He was just a super-nice, bright, smiley, happy person who loved everybody. You’d have to do something very wrong for him not to like you.”
His home in Briny will now be visited by his sister, Doris Studer.
“He was just a wonderful brother,” she said. “I got to come use his place every winter, and I’ll still do that. I love all the activities in Briny — the the pool, the beach, the exercise groups. He’ll be missed by both his family and friends.”
In addition to his sister, of Waterloo, Iowa, Mr. Poock is survived by two sons, Martin, of Chicago, Ill., and Alan, of Grand Rapids, Mich.
A funeral service was held Aug. 15 at Dunn’s Funeral Home in Des Moines, followed by burial at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Briny Breezes Charity Fund or Our Savior Lutheran Church, 1615 Lake Ave., Lake Worth, FL 33460.
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