Lulu Merle Rowley was born in Mitchell, South Dakota in 1920. She grew up on a farm near Mitchell and graduated from high school in 1938. Her activities as a young person in the First Baptist Church and Camp Judson inspired her to commit her life to Christ and she entered the Baptist Missionary Training School (BMTS) in Chicago, Illinois, for training in service to others.

After graduation in 1942, she was commissioned as an American Baptist missionary and was appointed the Women's and Girl's worker at Katherine House Christian Center in Chicago.In 1944 she was called to the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. as Community Service Director and in 1947, Lulu became the Eastern Area Missionary for the Women's American Baptist Home Mission Society where she served as liaison between the mission fields and the New York office, spending most of her time "on the road."

In 1947 Al Babcock went to Weirton, West Virginia, to spend six weeks on a summer service project of the Baptist Youth Fellowship. Because he had missed the orientation weekend, the young project director, Miss Lulu Rowley, met him at the bus station and proceeded to orient him during the walk to the Weirton Christian Center. Al didn't know when he had seen such a capable, businesslike girl. The more they worked together, the better they liked each other. After a courtship at the National Youth Conference at Green Lake, Wisconsin, in 1948, Lulu came to the San Francisco convention in 1949 and they became engaged. That Christmas, in Kansas, they set the wedding date, and in 1950 they were married in Lulu's home church in Mitchell, South Dakota. They had two children, Sandra and Arthur.

They lived in Berkeley, Los Angeles and then Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where her husband served the First Baptist Church as Minister of Christian Education from 1955-1963. It was during these years that Lulu and Al were active at Camp Judson, leading family and youth camps. She also served as State Counselor for the Guild (a mission oriented organization for 8th grade and high school girls) during these years.

The next move was back to Los Angeles, where Lulu worked for the Los Angeles Council of Churches before coming to work for the Good Neighbor Center of the First Baptist Church of Los Angeles where she retired in 1987. She married Paul S. Rotcher in 1981 and together they led many Good Neighbor trips.Lulu enjoyed her retirement, which included traveling with Paul around the country in their RV, visiting her family and grandchildren. She continued to be an active servant of the Lord in many capacities, such as care of nursery school children, singing in the choir, leading circles, and delivering sermons when requested. She was considered one of the busiest staff people. Besides a heavy work load, people always wanted to ask for her input, sometimes making it impossible for her to finish her responsibilities.

Lulu Merle Rowley Babcock Rotcher passed away suddenly in 1995.