Lowell Boomer, founder of US Dressage Federation & Dressage Foundation, Dies at Age 100
13 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Lowell Boomer, founder of US Dressage Federation & Dressage Foundation, Dies at Age 100
G. Lowell Boomer, founder of the U.S. Dressage Federation and The Dressage Foundation, died Sunday. He was 100 years old.
He was regarded as one of the most influential figures in the equestrian world after founding the USDF in 1973 and operated the organization at his print shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, for 16 years before the national headquarters were moved to Lexington, Kentucky.
Lowell was born on Oct. 12, 1911, in Burwell, Nebraska, to George R. and Grace Y. Boomer. He graduated Lincoln High School, and attended the University of Nebraska School of Music in Lincoln. While in high school, he won first place on the clarinet in a Lincoln music contest playing “Concertino” by Weber and went on to win contests at state, regional and national levels. He played clarinet for many years in the Lincoln Municipal Band summer concert series in Lincoln, alongside his wife, Gladys who played trumpet.
Lowell studied printing while in junior high, and started a letter shop with a mimeograph and multigraph machine in his mother’s Teachers Employment Agency. It grew to become Boomer’s Printing Company, which Lowell would head as president for the next 80 years, at which time he sold the company to its employees.
His avocation has been a lifetime love of horses.
He founded of the USDF in Lincoln in 1973, and was its chief executive officer for 16 years.
The USDF now has more than 30,000 members.
In 1989, he established The Dressage Foundation in Lincoln “to cultivate and provide financial support for the advancement of dressage.
He was the first inductee into the USDF Hall of Fame, and has received the U.S. Equestrian Federation Lifetime Achievement award. The Chronicle of the Horse named Lowell as “one of the 50 most influential horsemen of the 20th century worldwide.”
Lowell Boomer was an active, lifetime member of the Lincoln Downtown Sertoma Club, and was involved with Sertoma’s sponsorship of Cedars Home for Children when it was founded in 1947.
Lowell is survived by son John and wife Lynn of Lincoln; son Jim of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; three grandsons John Boomer, Jr., David Boomer, Mark Boomer; two grand daughters, Beth Bivins and Melissa Kleber; three great grandsons, Adam and Benjamin Boomer and Adam Kleber.
The family suggests Memorials to The Dressage Foundation, 1314 ‘O’ Street, Suite 305, Lincoln, NE 68508 and/or Cedars Home for Children, 6601 Pioneers Blvd, Lincoln, NE, 68506.
A “Celebration of Life” Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.. at Roper & Sons Mortuary, 4300 ‘O’ Street, Lincoln NE, 68510.
