Funeral services for Arthur Earnest Owens, 100, of Grand Saline, were held on July 11 at Bartley Funeral Home, with Daniel Owens officiating. Interment was in Haven of Memories in Canton.
Mr. Owens died on July 8, 2022, in Emory. He was born March 3, 1922, in Stephenville to Gilbert Lee and Maggie Lula Rhodes Owens. He lived his early years in the Red River County area, where he attended school in Boxelder. He was a sharecropper.
He served in the Army Air Corps from September of 1942, until his discharge in 1946. He served in the Aviation Engineer Battalion during WWII. He built air strips in New Guinea, Okinawa, and Ie Shima, and served as Mess Sergeant.
Mr. Owens married Terah Roberts on January 26, 1946. He lived in California and Colorado before moving to Dallas in 1952, where he owned a cement company. He moved to Grand Saline in 1955.
In 1964, he married Opal Fowler. He worked as a building contractor and eventually opened Owens Lumber Company, which he owned and operated from 1970-1979. He moved to Hideaway Lake in 1979 and then to Lindale in 1993. After Opal’s death, he returned to Grand Saline in 2015.
He is survived by his son, Danny Owens of Grand Saline; daughter, Vickie Kearney of Emory; stepdaughter, Regina Douglas of Lindale; five grandchildren, Koby Kearney, Tanner Kearney, Daniel Owens, Andrea and Brandon Allen; eight great-grandchildren; and numerous other relatives and friends.
Mr. Owens was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Opal; mother of his children, Terah Lapp; stepson, Richard Fowler; two brothers; and one sister.
Memorials may be made to the Family First Hospice, 2824 Terrell Rd, Ste. 402, Greenville, TX, 75402.