Jan William Owen

Jan William Owen was born in Gatesville, Texas December 29, 1920 to Calvin Percy and Alice McMurry Owen. He successfully navigated the public school system in Bonham, Sulphur Springs, Mercedes, and Brownwood, as his father, a Presbyterian clergyman, moved about from Call to Call.

Jan graduated from the University of Texas in Austin, and experienced a Call to the ministry. He attended Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, graduating with a Bachelor's of Divinity, June 1945. While attending seminary he met and courted Dorothy May Richey. They were married in Austin Seminary chapel on June 1, 2008.

Jan and "Dodie" would have five children, Jan Gaylord, Margaret Lynn, Susan Del, Robert Richey and Elizabeth Ann. Ordained in 1947, Jan served in parishes in Houston and Coleman, Texas. Moving to Lexington, Virginia in September 1950, Jan served as Pastor of the Poplar Hill Church and as Minister to Students at Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute.

A caring and approachable mentor, Jan influenced several students, who subsequently entered the ministry. In May 1954, Jan accepted a Call to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jan's ministry in Charlottesville was notable for his strength of character, intellectual skill and moral and ethical courage. A vocal proponent of civil rights, Jan co-founded the Jefferson chapter of the Virginia Council for Human Relations.

He and Dodie participated in the founding of the Parents Committee for Emergency Schooling. Jan also served as Chairman of the Commission on the Minister and His Work for Lexington Presbytery and as a member of the Commission on Campus Ministry for the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Jan also served as the first Director of the Peace Corps in Kingston, Jamaica in April 1962. Following his service in Kingston, Jan served with the Peace Corps in Santiago, Dominican Republic and in Medellin and Cali, Colombia, and as Director of University Contracting for Training. Jan served as Dean of Religious Life at the Inter American University in San German, Puerto Rico, in 1967.

In late 1968, he served as Pastor to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro, Virginia. In 1971, he was ordained an Episcopal Priest and was appointed Vicar of Trinity Episcopal Church in Cali. He returned stateside and served as Vicar and Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

Jan and Dodie then moved to San Antonio, Texas to accept an appointment to serve the Santa Fe Episcopal Church there and as Chairman of the Hispanic Ministry Commission of the Diocese of West Texas. Jan subsequently served at St. Thomas, St, Luke's and St. Mark's Episcopal Churches, and Trinity by the Sea in Port Aransas. Following Dodie's death in 1998, he continued to serve the Church until December 2001.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy R. Owen. Survivors; sons, Jan Gaylord Owen and wife, Janis, and Robert Richey Owen and wife, Noelle; daughters, Margaret Peggy Lynn Owen, Susan Del Owen and Elizabeth Ann Owen and husband, Timothy Strode; grandchildren, Mark Owen, Andrew Owen, Henry Owen, William Owen-Gage, Isabel Owen and Brynn May Owen, Steven Phillip Owen; brother, Rev. Joe Owen and wife, Jane; sister-in-law, Margaret Montgomery and husband, Howard Montgomery; numerous nieces, nephews, and countless friends.