HANCEVILLE – Meet Hanceville's Lowell Henderson: a Southern gentleman, master woodworker, motorcycle rider and freelance writer. Lowell is a devoted family man. He and his wife Melanie have 3 children, 6 grandchildren, and another one on the way. He is a kind person that is always willing to lend a helping hand, while having a smile on his face.
“I work full time for Louisiana Pacific in Hanceville where I have been for 18 years,” he explained. “I am considered one of the old timers at the mill. We old timers think of each other as our second family. Without these guys and the support they have given me over the years I would have never made it this far. They are a very special group.”
Lowell is a biker and has been riding his Harley for many years. He rides with, and is an officer in a local club called the Swamp Ratz that formed several years ago.
“The intention of the Swamp Ratz is to show that not all bikers are the outlaw types,” he smiled, “and to find ways to give back to the community in which we live. If you ride or just like motorcycles, you are more than welcome to join us. Kids are welcome as well; we try to always maintain a family friendly atmosphere.”
When he’s not working or riding his motorcycle, Lowell spends some of his spare time making unique tables, bird houses and other interesting items out of wood scraps he comes across.
“Like many carpenters, I started with easy projects like birdhouses and shelves,” he grinned. “Now I’m finding I like building tables and things of that nature. What makes my projects special isn’t the fact that I’m some great carpenter, it’s the wood. I mainly use recycled wood such as pallets, old barns, and pieces that people throw out in the trash. My goal is to build this into a nice little business, but lately, my wife has developed a bad habit of saying, ‘Oh, that will look good in our living room,’ or some other room in our house,” he smiled. “So I haven’t made much money lately,” he chuckled.
Lowell is quite a talented freelance writer. He maintains a two blogs, ‘Just Another Day’ (justanotherday-lowrider1.blogspot.com) and ‘Simply Fishing’ (simplyfing.blogspot.com).
He also has a motorcycle website called ‘2 Wheelz Down (sites.google.com/site/2wheelzdown).
“One of my recent blogs was favorited on Twitter by John Godwin of Duck Dynasty; it thrilled me to no end. But, when he retweeted my next blog post to all his followers, I was blown away,” he laughed happily.
He is also writing a book that he hopes to have published by the end of the year.
“I am in the final stages of writing my first book call ‘The Omars,’” he beamed. “The inspiration for the book came from the French Farm in Garden City where I lived for about fifteen years. The farm borders the Mulberry River, and to me it’s one of the prettiest places on the planet. Every since I moved, I have missed it daily,” he looked down for a moment.
Lowell Henderson is a Jack of all trades. From raising a family to writing a book, there’s never a dull moment as far as he is concerned.
His love for his community and desire to help others is the quality of a truly wonderful person. To keep up with his blogs and other writings or projects, visit his Facebook page or find him on Twitter @lowellhenry. For those that aren’t social media savvy, e-mail lowellhenderson65@yahoo.com and he will e-mail links to his posts.
