Lyndon Cobabe Lowther

Lyndon grew up as an Army brat, living in Utah, Arizona, North Carolina and California to name a few places. But his heart always called Utah home. Starting at the tender age of 13 years old Lyndon, along with his brother LaVar, worked side by side with their father, Val Lowther, and their Grandfather, Alvin Cobabe, in the development of Powder Mountain Ski resort, located in the picturesque mountains of Eden, Utah. The story is that Alvin, being the smart man that he was, always had Lyndon and LaVar there to act as gophers for anything that was needed. This is when Lyndon was introduced to learning how to operate heavy equipment. We have been told that as equipment operators would come to move ground for lodges, roads and parking lots, Lyndon would ask constant questions and observe how these massive machines worked. Alvin would have been the first one to teach Lyndon how to operate these machines. At some point, Alvin needed help expanding a parking lot. He stuck Lyndon on a D8 Caterpillar, showed him what he needed to do to operate the machine and what he wanted done in the parking lot and let him go; thinking to himself, “What harm could possibly be done?” Alvin said when he came back to check on the progress Lyndon made, he discovered that Lyndon cut into that dirt bank and expanded the parking lot further than he ever thought possible and that he had never seen anything like it. This 13 year old kid, moving a D8 around like he had been on it for years.

In his early years, Lyndon had many jobs at the ski resort but he was probably known best for the work he did grooming the runs and plowing parking lots. Us kids and mom, would always pray for no snow on Thanksgiving so he could be home with us for dinner, while the rest of Utah prayed for snow. It was no secret that Dad did not enjoy the cold and all of those winter nights grooming runs alone. He decided that he wanted to make some changes.

Those changes would come in 1984 when Lyndon married the love of his life, Karen. Lyndon and Karen along with their five children decided to make their home in Southern California, where Lyndon went to work for Los Angeles County Public Works. Lyndon began his 34 year career with LA County as a Power Equipment Operator. Towards the end of his career he would go on to be a Certified Crane Operator for LA County. Our family was lucky enough to be able to go to his retirement party, and because our dad was such an excellent storyteller and often spoke about the wonderful friendships he developed at the County, we felt like we knew everyone there from the stories he told over the years. He was like that, beloved by everyone. Our dad never had a cross word to say about anyone and he always left a big impression with anyone he met.