Dora Lee Owens

She died at home clasping the hands of her husband and oldest son while listening to Alexander Scourby read the Gospel of Mark. Dora loved many scriptures and was a lifelong student of the Bible, but she particularly loved reading the Gospel of Mark and how Mark used the word “immediately” to describe how Jesus healed people.

Dora accepted Jesus Christ as her LORD and Savior in 1968. She loved the LORD and always sought to be guided by the Holy Spirit and share the word of God. Throughout her Christian walk, she attended Bible studies, conferences and prayer meetings, sung in choirs and worship teams, and sang solos. She ministered to young men at Sacramento County Juvenile Hall for nearly 10 years and to incarcerated people at the state prisons in Tehachapi and Vacaville. She shared the love of Jesus to people wherever she went. Many times she saw people in need and would give them cash. She exhorted, prayed and encouraged them to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Dora was born in 1931 in Los Angeles, California, graduated from Belmont High School in 1950 and enrolled at Los Angeles Junior College. She served in the United States Air Force for more than three years and married Ronald F. Owens on August 7, 1954. Dora took classes at Sacramento City College, Anthony’s Real Estate School, and Capitol Bible Institute. As the wife of a U.S. Air Force musician, she lived in California, Japan, Nebraska, Washington D.C., Germany, Florida and Louisiana and traveled through Wester Europe, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Israel twice as well as western Canada and many places throughout the United States.

While she worked at Barksdale Air Force Base’s Base Exchange, briefly sold funeral plans and work at a Bible bookstore, her primary job was to be a wife and mother. “I pushed and I pressed and made you all (her four children) go to Bible studies,” Dora said a couple days before she passed. “It was worth it, it was worth it. Look at you all now.”

Dora Lee is survived by husband Ronald F. Owens; sister Dorothy Holmes Case; brother-in-law Kent A. Case; her children who she affectionately call her “four jewels” Terry Owens Thornton, Ronald F. Owens Jr., Linda L Owens-Fair and Leonard E. Owens; sons-in-law Joseph Thornton, IV and Paul R. Fair; daughter-in-law Stephanie E. Owens; grandchildren Joseph D. Thornton, Sara D. Thornton, Francheska E. Owens and Christian D. Thornton; niece-in-laws Sarah M. Thornton and Breanna C. Thornton; great grandchildren Lyric L. Flores, Aria E. Flores, Revy Arbuthnott, Daryl C. Arbuthnott and Anthony L.H. Ruiz; nephew-in-law Paul M. Andersen; great niece-in-law Veronica D. Andersen; great nephew-in-law Neil D. Andersen; cousins Aaron J. Weaver, Cynthia Y. Ford, Pearl M. Pratt and Tamara V. Fontaine; plus other in-laws and countless other cousins and relatives.

Dora was preceded in death by her 106-year-old mothe Lovelei C. Sterling; father Stanley Franklin; stepfather David R. Holmes; mother-in-law Dorothy L. Johnson; greath mother-in-law Carrie V. Webb; daughter-in-law Margaret E. Owens; granddaughter Ashleigh C. Owens; cousins Saleata S. Fontaine and Dina M. Fontaine plus other relatives.

Dora was called many names. Her husband of ore that 66 years affectionately call her “Sweetie.” Her children called her “Mommy,” “Mother” and “Mum.” Her grandkids called her “Grandmother” and “Grandma,” and her great grandchildren called her “Great Grandma.” In her words, her “entire name is written in…the Lamb’s Book of Life."