A.J. Owen

Mr. A. J. Owen died Tuesday at his residence in Alba, Texas. He was born January 10, 1923 in Dallas, Texas to the late Herbert D. Owen and Nellie Pulis Owen. He was a retired pilot for Braniff Airlines having worked for over 32 years. He was a member of the Golden Baptist Church, a Mason and a Shriner. Mr. Owen served in the U.S. Air Force during WWII and was one of very few pilots chosen to train with the Royal Air Force. He served as an Air transport Command Pilot in the South Pacific, assisted in flying occupation troops to Tokyo in 1945 and was in Japan the Day the treaty was signed.

He is survived by his wife of fifty nine years, Dorothy S. Owen of Alba; son, Jay Stuart Owen and his wife Sharon of Ft. Worth; daughter, Janice Lea Bynum and her husband James Hopkins of The Colony; brother, Donald Owen of Eustace; sister, Labarbara Carey of Waxahachie; grandchildren, Christopher Owen Bynum, J.C. Hopkins, James Hopkins, and Reid Hopkins.

Funeral services for Mr. Owen will be 1:00 PM, Thursday, March 13, 2008, at the Beaty Funeral Home Chapel in Mineola, Texas. The family will receive friends Wednesday from 6-8 PM at the Funeral Home. Interment will be at Roselawn Memorial Gardens in Mineola.