[List] Obituary: Tom Owens --- resending as attachment

[Cecil Stokes]

      BORN

08/27/1935


      DIED

10/12/2023


  Thomas Owens Obituary

Thomas Franklin Owens, aged 88, passed away on October 12, 2023 at The 
Arbors of Gulf Breeze, where he had resided since 2018. Tom was born on 
August 27, 1935, in Montgomery, AL to Wade Thomas Owens and Mae 
Katherine Hamrick. Growing up in Montgomery, he played baseball, loved 
motorcycles, and even dabbled in amateur boxing. He graduated from 
Sidney Lanier High School in 1953, and continued his education at 
Auburn, officially called Alabama Polytechnic Institute at the time. 
After graduating from Auburn in 1957 with a BS in Mechanical 
Engineering, Tom went to work at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL for 
the Thiokol Chemical Corporation, and in November of that year he 
married the love of his life Shirley Inez Hatcher at Highland Avenue 
Baptist Church in Montgomery. In early 1958, he took a leave of absence 
from Thiokol to spend 3 years as a navigator in the U.S. Air Force. 
While in the service, Tom and Shirley were stationed at various USAF 
bases, including Tampa, FL and Waco, TX where they welcomed their son 
Tom into the world in 1958. During their Air Force years, they also 
became avid bridge players and remained so for many years. After his 
honorable discharge, Tom and family returned to Huntsville where he 
resumed his career with Thiokol, and where daughter Ann was born in 
1961. Tom continued to work for Thiokol, progressing up the company 
ladder to eventually lead an engineering team that designed multiple 
products, including most notably the first stage rocket motor for the 
"Hellfire" missile which is still in use today by the US Armed Forces. 
During his life in Huntsville, he enjoyed golfing, tennis, bowling 
leagues, supporting and coaching youth sports, and the annual family 
vacations to Panama City, FL. After retiring in 1995, Tom and Shirley 
moved to Cobb County, outside of Atlanta, GA to be near Tom, Ann, and 
their families. He was the most loving and dedicated husband imaginable 
over the next several years, focusing his life on the care of Shirley 
after she developed early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Tom remained in 
Georgia for a few more years after Shirley passed, then moved to Gulf 
Breeze, FL in 2018 to once again be near his son and daughter. Though 
his health was declining during his time in Gulf Breeze, he never lost 
his sense of humor: when asked by the family if he needed anything when 
they returned for the next visit, his typical answer was "a bucket of 
money!"

Tom was preceded in death by his father and mother, and by his loving 
wife of 55 years, Shirley. He is survived by his son Tom (Gigi) Owens 
and daughter Ann Owens (Mark) Kirby of Gulf Breeze, FL, along with his 
grandchildren Ashley (Phillip) Butler, Lindsay (Peter) Heldt, Kyle 
(Ashleigh) Kirby, Drew Kirby, Laura Kirby and great-grandchildren Henley 
Butler, Reagan Butler, and Avery Heldt.

The family will hold a private memorial service in Georgia, where Tom's 
ashes will be interred beside Shirley. The family requests that in lieu 
of flowers, donations be made to theAlzheimer's Association 
<http://act.alz.org/site/Donation2?df_id=34718&mfc_pref=T&34718.donation=form1&set.TributeType=MEMORIAL&set.custom.honoree_name=Thomas%20Owens&set.TributeMessage=A%20gift%20has%20been%20made%20in%20remembrance%20of%20Thomas%20Owens>.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store 
<https://sympathy.legacy.com/en-us/funeral-flowers/productdetails/?type=obituary&p=205492798&pn=thomas-owens&affiliateId=4603&v=01&sku=tre-tim&pm=240>.
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