Victor "Vickie" Katherine Owen

On April 8, 2019, at 12:39 pm, my Mom, Victor “Vickie” Katherine Owen took her last breath. She was born in Oklahoma City on July 20, 1936 to Victor Henry Mertz and Katherine Baker Mertz. Just days after her birth, her mother passed away. With the focus on a new baby, it went unnoticed that her birth certificate listed her father’s name, Victor, as the baby name. Mom never considered name change, due to her deep love for her father.

She and her father moved to San Benito to be closer to her mother’s family, where her father ran the first mercantile store. They lived there until the Great Depression took its toll and the store closed. They then moved to Dallas, where her father worked at Butler Brothers as a salesman, he later married Bess Bannon Mertz, who became, according to “Vickie” the best mom ever.

She attended Ursuline Academy, an all-girls Catholic school in Dallas. There she made lifelong friends, Martha, Tomi, Margo and Evelyn. After Ursuline, she attended Woodrow Wilson High School where she met her first husband, Stephen Robert Voros, whom she was over the moon in love with and said that during the summers when they were apart, they wrote daily love letters to each other.

After graduating in 1953, she attended business school in Dallas, training to be a legal secretary. She worked at Brady, Drake and Yates, as their first legal secretary. Steve went to Texas A&M, when it was just for men, after his graduation they wasted no time, and married on June 1, 1956. She was all smiles in her wedding photos yet grieving over losing her father weeks before the wedding. Steve had a degree in Petroleum Engineering and also had to complete two years in the Army, so off they went to Annapolis, Maryland. After the Army, they moved to Sweetwater Texas. In 1959, they moved to Lubbock, when 50th street wasn’t yet paved. After settling in they planned for a family, learning Mom could not have children, they decided to adopt. Fortunately, I was born shortly after they were approved to adopt and in July 1962 they picked me up from the Edna Gladney home in Fort Worth, Texas.

After Steve passed, Mom, returned to work, managing apartments, while adjusting to life as a single Mom. She later, met Ralph Arnwine Owen, and married in 1968, moving to Houston in 1969 and returned to Lubbock in 1970. She began working as an apartment manager, then moved to working as a bookkeeper for John Abney in his insurance business until she decided to open her own business, Owen Bookkeeping. Mom continued working until she decided it was time to close shop and enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Mom enjoyed life, spending her favorite hours in her beloved backyard, creating beauty over every inch of dirt, and enjoying a cocktail on the patio while bird watching as the sun set. She was also a dog person, starting with her childhood companion, Cookie, followed by our family dogs: Fifi, Dusty, Folly and Lucky. She loved Lubbock and was so proud of the city and how it had grown; she loved driving around town! Her politics were to the left and she cried with joy when President Obama was elected.

Mom found the good in everyone and made friends wherever she went, her smile would light up a room. She loved history, poetry, reading, Blue Bell, and she was so darn smart. Most of all, she loved being a Mom and even in her final hours, she managed to take care of me. Each time life took a whack at her, she got up and kept going. She was a strong, independent woman and the world is less because she is no longer in it.

Survived by me, her only daughter, Susan Owen; cousin, Suzette Shelmire in Oxford Mississippi and many loving friends.

Mom wanted to pass away in her home and in her own bed and that was made possible by the many, many folks who helped over the past year. A special thanks to those with Hospice of Lubbock and Home Instead, who took excellent care of her and guided me through difficult times. This has been one of the hardest periods of my life and I’ve needed my friends, old and new, to keep me grounded and look after me. Mom always said that family comes in all shapes and sizes. I love y’all more than words can say.