POLAND — When Pat Lowry earned his history degree from Youngstown State University in 1977, the furthest thing from his mind was becoming a press secretary for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The former Youngstown Northsider, who now resides in Poland, graduated from Ursuline High School in 1969 and then attended YSU part time over the following eight years while holding down a full-time job at Fazio’s Supermarket in Warren. His sights were set on a career in education.

Washington, D.C., was nowhere on the radar.

Lowry had no inkling that by the time he was 50 one of his future students at Warren JFK High School would set him on an entirely different path.

“I had no indication that I would ever become a congressional employee,” Lowry said. “That wasn’t part of the plan.” When Lowry embarked on his teaching career in 1978, the lad who would lead him to Congress was only five, so it’s unlikely the little fellow was aware of any plan, too.

The student lurking in Lowry’s future was Tim Ryan who would grow up to represent the Mahoning Valley in Congress. Lowry and Ryan stayed in touch after the latter’s graduation.

During the ’90s, Lowry’s flair for politics was blooming. “My parents were not political people. They were busy raising 11 kids,” he said, adding his “bandwidth” of political influences was narrow. That changed in college, however, as he gradually gained a fuller awareness of the political environment. Eventually, Lowry found himself immersed in civic causes, neighborhood groups and school levy campaigns.

One day in 2001, Ryan’s brother Allen gave Lowry a call. Tim, halfway through his first term as a state senator, was planning a run for the redrawn 17th Congressional District. They wanted Lowry to attend the first campaign meeting. He did. Eagerly.

In 2002, Lowry taught at JFK in the daytime and worked on messaging and media relations evenings and weekends for Ryan.

The field in that May’s primary election was crowded with six candidates including former Trumbull County Commissioner Anthony Latell Jr. and U.S. Rep. Thomas Sawyer whose home had been drawn into the 17th district from the 14th where he had won eight consecutive terms.

Underdog Ryan won by wide margins over seasoned rivals Sawyer and Latell, and in November got elected to Congress in a three-way race that included former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr.

In between the primary and general elections, Ryan asked Lowry if he would join his Congressional staff as his full-time press secretary if elected.

The decision to make the leap from teaching to Congressional aide was not particularly easy. Among many things it would mean being out of town a lot and adding new skills to his arsenal. He sought the counsel of his older brother Chuck who lives in New York City. “He said, ‘If it only lasts one term you gotta do it.’ So I did.”

Lowry’s wife Becky supported his new role and it helped they were out of “baby-raising mode” as he put it. The two oldest kids were in their very early 20s and the third was halfway through her freshman year of high school.

Lowry spent 17 and a half years assisting Ryan. “Over the years I was primarily involved in press and media but I also staffed Tim for a lot of things or spoke in his place” on agreed-upon occasions when Ryan was unavailable for an event.

“It was a big change [in his life], but not one I sought out,” he said. “It came at a good time. And I’m still in awe of Washington, DC, and I will take any flimsy excuse to go there.”

Lowry feels strongly that “government can be a force for the public good,” going on to say, “Tim Ryan made a difference here. When you look at the Port Authority, initiatives at the air base, [and] bringing Appalachia dollars to the Valley — those are significant achievements. That’s what government should do.”

Lowry, 72, stays active as a consultant and still travels occasionally to Washington. An added bonus to his trips is the opportunity to visit his son Joseph who is the director of emergency planning for the U.S. House of Representatives under the Sergeant-at-Arms. Joe Lowry and his family live in suburban Washington.

Today, Lowry will be inducted into the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame, a tribute exceeded only by his previous induction into the Grandad Hall of Fame by his seven grandchildren.