From Citizen News, October 28, 2015

To the Editor:

I am writing to endorse the candidacy of Don Lowe for First Selectman. Others have written in these pages of the public service and dedicated
volunteerism of both Don and Ashleigh Blake. I want to focus on some of the human qualities I have observed over many years of friendship and
collaboration with Don that I think make him an ideal leader for our town.

As a writer of fiction, Don shows great empathy for individuals and communities coping with the vicissitudes of contemporary life. As a writer of non-fiction, including highly-respected reference works in several disciplines, he exhibits a great talent for researching complex topics and distilling them down to the essential facts and conclusions.
As a songwriter and musician, he gives eloquent voice to the grieving family of a dead soldier, the straying lover mending his evil ways, the husband and wife learning to live together once the honeymoon is over – real people with real joys and sorrows not unlike those of people in Sherman and every small town in America.

I have seen Don at work with our children as writer, director and stage manager of several Song to Symphony productions at the Sherman School, where he was teacher, mentor and inspiration to a whole generation of Sherman students. He has engaged with older adults at the senior center and elsewhere, not just  in his prior position as a
Selectman but also as a private citizen concerned about the well-being of all in our town. Don has involved himself with campaigns and organizations focused on housing, farming, education, the arts,
natural resources and conservation. He is hardworking, intelligent, articulate and compassionate. Don is the kind of person Sherman
needs as First Selectman.

Please join me in voting for Don Lowe and his running mate Ashleigh Blake.

Mary Rindfleisch,
Sherman