Priscilla Lord Cowell

Priscilla died peacefully in hospice at her Portland, Oregon home on March 20, 2025 at the age of 84. The cause was brain cancer.

She was born to Helen Lord Blanchard and Frederick Davenport Cowles in Buffalo, New York, and raised in San Marino, California. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a Master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

She met and married Richard (Nick) Nichols Cowell in 1963 while they were graduate students, and enjoyed a happy and adventurous lifelong marriage. Nick had taught at Tarsus College in Turkey and hitchhiked around the world after graduating from Harvard. They spent 17 years living and working all over the world together, before and after the births of their two sons, Christopher and Nicholas. The Cowells were a vibrant part of their overseas communities, engaging fully with local cultures with curiosity and appreciation. 

Specializing in literacy, Priscilla worked in developing countries on projects funded by USAID and the Ford Foundation. She helped develop national school curricula in Chile, American Samoa, Venezuela, and Namibia, and she taught in Indonesia, Nepal, and Pakistan. On returning to their home in Portland, she worked as a learning specialist at Catlin Gabel School. 

She was an exceptionally supportive, selfless, and loving mother who instilled in her sons an appreciation for travel and foreign cultures. While her sons attended local and international schools abroad, the family often returned to Portland between assignments to ensure the boys felt rooted in American culture. Their Portland home reflected their love of travel in its many beautiful artifacts from around the world, and their sons often joined them in their recreational travels as well as their work assignments.

Priscilla and Nick shared a love of theater, attending plays wherever they could, especially in London. They were supporters of the Portland theater scene and the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. They also regularly attended and supported local art and classical music events. Priscilla was a voracious and broad-ranging reader. Throughout her life and wherever she went, her friendly, astute, and cordial personality made her the center of community activities both social and cultural. At her Mirabella retirement community in Portland, she frequently wrote for the building’s magazine, enthusiastically learning about her co-residents and their lives. From residents to staff, she knew everyone and everyone knew her.

After retiring, she volunteered for ten years on a Citizen Review Board overseeing children in foster care. At Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, she served as co-chair of the Community Outreach program and as a vestry member. She maintained close relationships with her immediate and extended family, especially her two grandsons. Through all these activities, she continued traveling the world with her husband.

Priscilla was predeceased by her son, Nicholas Blanchard Cowell, who died in 2016. She is survived by her husband, Nick, now living in memory care at Mirabella; her son Christopher and his wife Marya; her grandsons Soren and Kirin Cowell-Shah; her niece Judy Theodorson; and her great-nephews Alec, Cole, and Jack Erb.

A private family Service of Burial will be held at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Priscilla’s ashes will join those of three generations of her family in the Trinity Memorial Garden.