Pat Lowther: Murder of a Poet

When Pat Lowther was murdered in her East Vancouver home, she had just signed a contract with a major publisher. The 40-year-old mother of four was carving out a new voice in the Canadian literary scene and being recognized for her strong, often violent, feminist poetry.

the lowthers:

The mustard-coloured house where Pat and Roy Lowther lived on East 46^th Avenue near Mountain View Cemetery, is a three-storey, classic kit home with a welcoming front porch and stained glass on the front door. It was built in 1908—an old-timer by Vancouver’s standards.

Pat, who was just 40 at the time of her murder, grew up in North Vancouver. The Vancouver Sun published her first poem when she was 10. She published her first collection of poems in 1968 and taught at the University of BC’s creative writing department. Only weeks before her murder she had signed a contract with Oxford University Press for a new collection of poetry, her first to be published by a major press.

Missing:

At the time of her murder, Roy Lowther, 51, was a failed poet and teacher. They had two children, Roy had three from his first marriage, and Pat had a boy and a girl from her first marriage.

A week after she’d last seen her mother, Pat’s daughter Kathy went to police and reported her missing. Roy told police that his wife was having an affair with a poet in Ontario, and he assumed she’d gone there to be with him. Police checked airlines, rail and bus companies—no one had seen her.

Furry Creek:

Three weeks later, a family hiking at Furry Creek found her body lying face down in the water—her head and shoulders jammed under a log. The body was badly decomposed and police finally identified Pat from fingerprints and dental records.

A search of the couple’s bedroom turned up 117 blood spots on the wall. Police found a blood-stained mattress and a hammer at the Lowther’s cabin on Mayne Island. Roy was charged with murder.

Roy’s lawyer put up a fascinating defense. Roy admitted to finding his wife’s naked, battered body in the upstairs bedroom. He thought that the police would suspect him, he said, so he decided to get rid of the body. He wrapped up his wife, put her in the trunk of the family car, drove to Furry Creek, and threw her body over a cliff. Unfortunately for Roy, the body wasn’t washed out to sea, and he was charged and convicted of second-degree murder.

He died in prison eight years later. In 1980, the League of Canadian Poets established the annual The Pat Lowther Memorial Award.

SHOW NOTES

Sponsored by Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours.

Music:   Andreas Schuld ‘Waiting for You’

Intro and voiceovers:   Mark Dunn

Podcast Promo:  Mind Over Murder Podcast

Buy me a coffee promo: McBride Communications and Media

Interviews: former Vancouver prosecutor Robert DeBou, Lorna Crozier, poet, Allan Safarik, a friend of Pat’s who published her second book of poetry, and Ruth Lowther, Roy’s daughter from his first marriage.

Sources:

• Lazarus, Eve. At Home with History: the untold secrets of Greater Vancouver’s Heritage Homes, Anvil Press, 2007
• Safarik, Allan. Notes from the Outside: episodes from an unconventional life, Hagios, 2006
• Swan, Joe. Police Beat: 24 Vancouver Murders, Cosmopolitan Publishing, 1991
• Wiesenthal, Christine. The Collected Works of Pat Lowther, NeWest Press, 2010
• Water Marks documentary, CBC Passionate Eye, 2009
• Vital Statistics (Death Registrations)
• Various articles from the Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver News Herald, Province, Times Colonist, Victoria Times, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen,

Poetry collections by Pat Lowther:

• This Difficult Flowring (Very Stone House, 1968)
• The Age of the Bird (Blackfish Press, 1972)
• Milk Stone (Borealis Press, 1974)
• A Stone Diary (Oxford, 1977)

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