DAILY Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. Decatur police officer Mike Hazel checks out some debris on Modaus Road while a state trooper investigates Tuesday morning's fatal, head-on collision. Local businessman James Roger Lowery died in the wreck, but two seriously injured women were pulled from the truck in the rear before it burst into flames.

Businessman dies in head-on crash
Passers-by pull 2 women from car about to blaze

By Seth Burkett
DAILY Staff Writer
sburkett@decaturdaily.com · 340-2355

A head-on wreck on the outskirts of Decatur on Tuesday killed an area businessman and injured a mother and daughter whom passers-by pulled from the flaming wreckage.

James Roger Lowery of Decatur appeared to have died instantly from internal injuries, said Assistant Coroner David Parks.

Lowery, 59, owned various properties in Decatur, including Lowery Filter Manufacturing and Heritage Mobile Home Estates. He was the former owner of the Freeway Club on Sixth Avenue Southeast.

Decatur Fire and Rescue Lt. Ray Williams said firefighters found Lowery dead and the other vehicle, a small truck, in flames on the roadside upon their arrival at the 9:45 a.m. accident on Modaus Road near Shady Grove Lane.

Motorists pulled two women from the blazing truck before firefighters arrived and put out the blaze, Williams said.

MedFlight transported passenger Morgan Lowery, 16, of Trinity to Huntsville Hospital, where she underwent surgery for a broken back.

"She came through surgery fine, but we're going to have to wait 24 to 48 hours to see if she's going to be paralyzed," said her grandmother Melba Way.

Way spoke by phone from a room at Huntsville Hospital, where her daughter, Charlotte Lowery, 43, was staying.

Charlotte Lowery, who was driving the truck, was taken by ambulance to Decatur General Hospital and then to Huntsville.

"She's got two collapsed lungs, and she's got a broke collar bone and some broke ribs — that's the reason her lungs are collapsed. They're going to have to do surgery on both feet. ... She will go into surgery tonight," Way said.

Way said Charlotte Lowery works in the shoe department at Dillard's and Morgan Lowery is an East Lawrence High School junior who likes to ride horses and go swimming with her friends. The two are not related to James Roger Lowery.

Way said a horrible and shocking day for the family could have been even worse had others not stopped to help her daughter and granddaughter.

"We really thank the guys that pulled them out of the truck from the bottom of our hearts because they could have been blown up," she said.

Benny Turner, 51, of Decatur said he was traveling east on Modaus Road, ahead of Charlotte Lowery, when he nearly collided with Roger Lowery's car.

"He was off on the right side, his right side, and he whipped it back like he was trying to get back over on the pavement. ... The guy nearly hit me head-on, and I ran off the road to keep him from hitting me, and he hit the truck behind me — hit it head-on," Turner said.

"When I got to him, he was already dead. The girls were hurting. ... The truck was already in flames when I got there, and another guy helped me get them out. The truck started to explode. The windshield started blowing out of it first.

"A third guy came up with a fire extinguisher and started trying to put the fire out. It was a little bitsy fire extinguisher, and it didn't put it out. We got them over there on the ground about two minutes before the truck blew up," Turner said.

"When we moved 'em, we were worried about their injuries, but the flames were already pretty high as it was. I don't know who the guy was that helped me, but he sure was helpful. I probably couldn't have gotten them over there myself, even though I'm a big feller. When something like this happens, it's over in a second. By the time you say, '1,001,' it's over."

Turner said their actions were not heroic.

"It wasn't no hero situation. We had to do something to get them out before the fire killed them. ... Everybody was just doing what they had to do," he said.

A longtime friend of Roger Lowery, Harvey Pride of Decatur, said Tuesday he suffered the "tremendous loss of a very dear friend and partner."

"He was an early contractor at Lakeland Industries. He was our first contractor and was very instrumental in the success of that business," Pride said.

Pride said Lowery not only was a smart businessman, but also was a hard-working and honest man.

"He was former owner if the Freeway Club in Decatur for 18 years. It was the place to go. It was the first club in Decatur. He also played in the Freeway band. He played bass, and he was one of the lead singers. He couldn't read music. He played by ear," Pride said.

"People have a lot of misconceptions about Roger. He really helped a lot of people behind the scenes. Folks that don't know him think that maybe he was just a bar owner," Pride said. "... He wasn't a wildly wealthy person, but he was very benevolent to children."

Lowery was a baptized member of the Church of God and also applied his musical talents there, Pride said.

"Roger had a lot of friends and was a very kind, kind person. He was kind and very trusting," Pride said. "He will be missed. He will really be missed in Decatur."

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