R.I.P. Conner Lowry USMC

Conner Lowry USMC

This story is about "one of the kids from the park"
The last time Grace Lavin saw her brother, Marine Cpl. Conner Lowry, it was via an Internet video call in January. From somewhere in Afghanistan, he teared up as they talked, looking very much like he missed home, she said.

Thursday afternoon, Lavin 17, came home from school to find the front door open and three Marines in the kitchen. She immediately knew why they were there.
Lowry, 24, died Thursday while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan's Helmand province, according to a Department of Defense release that offered no further details.

"It wasn't supposed to be my brother," Lavin said Friday from her family's home in Chicago's West Beverly neighborhood. "My brother wasn't supposed to die. He was supposed to come home. I thought it was always a myth that people died when they went to Afghanistan. I didn't think myths were supposed to come true. But this one did."

On Friday, yellow ribbons adorned trees in the 10000 block of South Washtenaw Avenue. American flags fluttered outside neighboring homes. A single black ribbon was hanging from the top of the flagpole at the family's home, where a Marine Corps flag also flew.
Inside, family and friends gathered to talk about the popular boy who his mother, Modie Lavin, said was well-known in the neighborhood.
"He was awesome, and a great Marine," his mother said. "He loved his friends. He had 100 best friends."
Lowry had been in Afghanistan since October and was scheduled to return to the United States around June, two months before his enlistment was up, said his brother, Brian Lavin, 33.

Like many Chicagoans his age, Lowry grew up idolizing Michael Jordan, his family said. His brother said Lowry was an "absolute sports fanatic" who owned an extensive collection of sports jerseys and loved Notre Dame.

His 6-foot-5 inch frame served him well as a football player at Brother Rice High School on the South Side. Principal Jim Antos described Lowry as a "spirited lad" with a lively sense of humor.

Lowry and Antos forged a friendly relationship during a school retreat. Later, Lowry would ask Antos about his experiences in the military during the Vietnam War.

Lowry is the second member of the Brother Rice Class of 2006 to die in Afghanistan, Antos said. Jared Stanker, 22, of Evergreen Park, died of injuries sustained from a roadside bomb in 2009.
"This kind of stuff is never easy," Antos said.
Lowry's family said they were initially surprised when he decided to leave college to enlist in the Marines in 2008. The family doesn't have a history of military service, but Grace Lavin said she thinks she understands why he made the choice.
"I think he wanted to something for himself and his country," she said. "He was meant to serve others."
The family was apprehensive, but tried to remain positive even as Lowry was deployed to Afghanistan Oct. 31.
"He was such a street-smart kid," his brother Charley Lavin, 34, said Friday. "I thought, he's sharper than the average Marine. He wouldn't put himself out there too much."
The week before Lowry shipped out, family members traveled to Camp Pendleton in California to visit. He told them he didn't want them to see him right before he left because it would be too hard for everyone, his sister said.
Charley Lavin lives near the base, and as the family got into cars to go to his house, Lowry insisted that Grace ride with him.
"He said, 'Grace, I love you,' with the most meaning I've ever heard," she recalled. "Almost in a way like, I need you to know this."
On Friday evening, family members were flying to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where fallen soldiers and Marines are brought home.

jbullington@tribune.com