William O. Owings MD

William Orange Owings, M.D., of Centreville, Alabama departed this life December 3, 2019. He was born in Selma, Alabama on September 18, 1936 to Dr. W.J.B. Owings and Lena Mae Thompson Owings, of Brent, Alabama. Having graduated from Bibb County High School in 1950, he attended the University of Alabama and was accepted to Tulane School of Medicine in 1954. While at the University of Alabama, he met and married Elizabeth Joyce Grimsley, of Atmore, and after medical school, four years in the Army, and a residency in general surgery, he moved his family back to Bibb County, Alabama, where he began the practice of medicine with his father in Brent.

While still in practice, Dr. Owings began teaching part time in the Family Medicine Residency Program at the College of Community Health Sciences, University of Alabama. He eventually joined the faculty full time, where he taught hundreds of family physicians who have themselves now spread throughout Alabama, the United States of America, and the world.

Throughout his career, he also served in the United States Army Reserve, and was called back to active duty during the Gulf War, during which he was stationed in both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Dr. Owings was preceded in death by his wife, Joyce, his brother, Clyde, and a grandson, Jesse. He is survived by a sister, Kay Smith, two brothers, Tom Owings and Joe Owings (Nita), and by four children, Bill (Carol), Robert (Jeanne), Brad (Kathy), and Elizabeth (David Bolden), as well as by seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins.

He will be warmly remembered, not only by friends and family, patients and staff, but by the thousands who were taught and touched by him during his career. In his opinion, his greatest achievement was the sum of physicians and medical professionals he taught and mentored, and ultimately all these people are his legacy.

A visitation for William will be held Friday, December 6, 2019 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Bethel Baptist Church, Highway 25 S, Brent, Alabama. A funeral service will occur Friday, December 6, 2019 at 11:00 AM, Highway 25 S, Brent, Alabama. Burial in Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery.