OLLI at TTU, Lubbock volunteer feature: Ed Fowler

By Daniel Johnson, Section Manager

You might recognize Ed Fowler from his time being owner, alongside his wife Jane, of Gourmet Pantry in Lubbock for 30 years, or you might recognize him as a staple at several OLLI at TTU, Lubbock classes. Wherever you have seen Ed, it is very rare that you will see him without a smile on his face. That smile is because Ed is enjoying retirement, being around familiar faces at OLLI events and learning about things that interest him.

Ed was born in Lubbock, but at 10 years old medical problems forced him and his mother to move to Santa Monica, Cal. Ed's father was a cotton farmer in Littlefield and would travel back and forth between the two areas. Ed attended military schools in California, focusing on science and math. When it was time to go to college, Ed decided he wanted to become the next Frank Lloyd Wright and attend architecture school at Texas Tech University. While Ed never became the next great architect, or even graduate with an architecture degree, he did find his calling with numbers and eventually finished with a finance degree and graduate degree from TTU.

Having the background in finance and always having an entrepreneurial mindset, Ed created his business publishing stock market calendars showcasing movement and trends within the market. With his ability to print high-quality books in large quantities and the connections he made in New York, Ed soon found himself offering more products for his clients. Ed started Blue Chip Gifts where he would create gift catalogs for institutions and firms in New York City and print greeting cards to send to their customers. Eventually two of Ed's largest customers offered to buy his business and he sold in the early '80s.

Ed's wife Jane also had an entrepreneurial mindset and opened Gourmet Pantry, a store focusing on the kitchen and home décor gift market, on 50th Street and later in the Kingsgate Shopping Center. Together they ran Gourmet Pantry and held cooking classes for more than 30 years.

In 2014 Ed and Jane were getting ready for retirement when a customer told them about a special program through Texas Tech.

"Just after we closed the store, a customer asked what we were going to do now that we were retired, and she told us about the OLLI program through Tech and thought that we would enjoy it," states Ed.

"We signed up once the new semester started, and we are now going on about five years. Jane and I enjoy the food and wine classes because that is our background. At first, we attended classes together, but now we will go to different classes that interest us. This past semester Jane did about 20 classes, I did a few less."

After the first year of attending classes Ed was approached by an OLLI board member and asked if he would like to volunteer on the board.

"They asked because I showed interest in the different classes and they needed volunteers. OLLI always needs volunteers, and they figured since I went to a lot of classes that I would be good fit for the board."

Through the four years on the board, Ed has helped with OLLI marketing and curriculum, but the thing he enjoys the most is the people involved with the organization.

"Most of us are retired, but even if they are not retired, we have similar interests. I think the more you get involved the more you learn from the people you are working with and the people you are around, so even that is very positive," says Ed. "We have become more involved as time has gone on because we enjoy the people and the friendships."

One of the assets of OLLI is no matter who you are or what you are interested in, there is a class for you.

Ed mentioned, "OLLI has close to 66 courses this semester, so a person should be able to find something of interest to them because we have a lot to choose from. Even if it is a person's second or third choice on class, they would be shocked how interesting some of these classes are."

Travel was something Ed and Jane wanted to do once retired, and they enjoy the fact that they can do that through OLLI.

"My favorite class was probably the 6666 Ranch," he said. "I also enjoy any of the outings and classes where we travel. We went to Canyon to learn about Georgia O'Keeffe and then went out to Palo Duro Canyon to see where she painted. Any travel classes where we can go look at special places, we enjoy. This summer we went to the play "Texas" at Palo Duro Canyon; Jane and I had put that off for 25 years, and it was just great."