Rose Webb Owen

Rose Webb Owen, age 95, died December 18, 2017 at Highland Terrace at Midtown in Memphis, where she had resided for the past 8 years. Rose, widow of David Owen, is survived by her daughter, Judy Owen, of Ventura, California, and son, Kent Owen and his wife Cindy, of Powhatan, Arkansas.

Rose was born and raised on a family farm in Dyer County, Tennessee. After graduating from high school in 1940, she moved to Memphis “because I knew that there had to be something better (in life) than chopping cotton”. She completed a business course at Memphis School of Commerce and began working in the insurance department of Marx and Bensdorf, Inc. Through a co-worker there, Rose met David Owen, whom she married in 1944. Shortly thereafter, the couple started a family. Although Rose took time off from her business career when her children were young, she was a working mother long before it became the norm, balancing the many demands of her family with the demands of her job. Rose worked in the offices of several Memphis businesses before starting her long-term association with the Milton A. Sternberger Company, from which she retired in 1983.

Rose was an active member of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church for over 65 years and served in a variety of leadership capacities. She enjoyed family, traveling and bridge.

Rose was preceded in death by her parents, Ernel and Nina Webb; her brother, Cranston; and, in 1978, by her husband, David.

Services will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday, December 22, at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 480 South Highland, Memphis, TN 38111. The family will receive visitors immediately prior to the service at 10:00 a.m. Interment will be at Edmondson Cemetery, Southaven, Mississippi.