Heaven gained its kindest Kool-Aid mom when Elener Marie Burns Owens, 79, strolled through its gates September 8, 2024, to spend eternity in the arms of her lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Marie, born in Newport News, Va, died – as sweet as ever – at her home in Owensboro after a short battle with cancer, her last words being a mention about her “kitty cat” in the bedroom window and her love for her only son and daughter-in-law. She now joins in the afterlife her husband of 58 years, Linwood F. “Sonny” Owens, 78. They first met when a mutual friend drove Marie to see Sonny just as he got off from his dirty job at his family’s plumbing business. Sonny always said he was too grungy after work to meet a prospective girlfriend. Ask Marie about the impromptu meeting and she’ll talk on and on about his “pretty blue eyes.” They met again a year later and he asked her to see a drive-in movie and she immediately ran to family to ask if she made a mistake agreeing to a date with the neighborhood bad boy.
Marie is also survived by her son, Michael L. Owens and his wife, Heather, of Owensboro. Known to family as “Ree Ree,” her house in Norfolk, Va., was the place of sleepovers for nieces Karen Gregory, Sharon Miller, Melissa (Missi) Wexler, Jennifer (Jenny) Apiag, and Crystal Frankart, all of Virginia. The tradition of the late-night gab fests and mornings with Aunt Ree Ree’s perfectly buttered toast continued for them from childhood to adulthood. Heather said that Marie loved her like a daughter “and I became so.” Marie, hours after first being introduced to Heather twenty-some years ago, said with tears streaming down her face: “I want her as my daughter-in-law.”
Michael loves to tell stories of how his mother was the quintessential Kool-Aid mom of the 70s – always supplying the fruit-flavored drink mix and animal cookies to the neighborhood kids gathering in the yard on warm summer days. He remembers a childhood of backyard hunts for buried treasure and summer matinees of such movies as Pete’s Dragon at the local theater, all organized by his mom. She also rooted for the Washington Redskins football team for decades at the side of Michael and Sonny, only to recently blurt out that she “hates football.”
Marie also leaves behind a very special aunt and prayer warrior, Anne Gibbs. She joins in Heaven a brother, Travis Burns, and is survived by her sister, Loretta Murray.
A high school graduate, Marie would eventually become the credit manager of a store in downtown Norfolk during the segregation of the 60s, often sneaking in the back door people who needed to use the restroom because the only one not for White’s Only was at the bus station blocks away. “Never be afraid to help people,” she told her son. She last worked as a bank teller, immediately retiring upon the approval of the adoption of Michael. From there, it was a life of raising her son, mission trips with Temple Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va., knocking down pins for the church bowling team, Tupperware parties with the neighborhood moms, endlessly cheering on Sonny as he pitched for the church softball team, and chauffeuring her son to soccer games.
Marie’s kindness is known from the Andes to New Zealand, with condolences and well wishes and reminiscences of her love and kindness flowing from hearts around the globe.
A special thanks to close family friend, Monica Hicks, and to Hospice & Palliative Care of Western Kentucky.
A funeral service will be conducted at 5:30 p.m. (CST), 6:30 p.m. (EST), Thursday, September 12, 2024 at Utica Baptist Church at 415 Hwy. 1207, Utica, officiated by the Rev. Shea Hicks. It will be streamed live on the church Facebook page at www.facebook.com/UticaBC/.