The Red Oak II General Store was built at the turn of the century in Red Oak, Missouri. Mr. Lowell's relatives operated it from 1921, and during the war years his father took over running it. There Mr. Lowell learned to sculpt and paint while listening to and watching old-timers sit around the potbellied stove, spinning yarns and whittling. In 1988 the store was moved to Red Oak II and restored to its original splendor. The attachment on the north side of the general store was originally an icehouse, one of the few remaining icehouses in the country. Before modern freezers and ice makers, this sawdust-insulated structure was a necessity, and when Mr. Lowell was growing up in Red Oak, many wintry days were spent helping men save ice from White Oak Creek to store there for the warmer days to come.