People of Alabama: Josephine Lowery of Homewood
By Reagan Wells
March 8, 2021
Josephine Lowery says her difficult upbringing helped shape the woman she is today. (Reagan Wells/People of Alabama)
“Having grown up in a dysfunctional family, where my mother was an alcoholic and I was on free lunch and food stamps, the biggest lesson I learned was to persevere through everything, to never give up, to continue to try, have confidence and hope, work through it and ultimately succeed. Both my parents are deceased and my mother died of alcoholism. We did have a close, complicated relationship. My dad was a professor, but he was not very involved in our lives until I was older. Because of my background, I’m the person I am today. I wouldn’t be a strong, independent woman if I hadn’t gone through the complications of my childhood. My parents were very bright. They believed in education, reading, curiosity and learning. What I got from them was the importance of a good education. They were also very compassionate people. They might not should’ve been parents, but they were incredibly compassionate. I learned how to be accepting of all people because of my parents and how they treated people.” – Josephine Lowery of Homewood.