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<h1 color="#00141E" class="Heading-sc-4h3nqe-0 dXbZXE"
style="margin: 0px 96px 24px; color: rgb(0, 20, 30); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 30px; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 544px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Thomas
Owens Obituary</h1>
<p color="#404F57" data-component="ObituaryParagraph"
class="Paragraph-sc-osiab4-0 ObituaryText___StyledParagraph-sc-12f7zd1-0 jodDEO cIEVBB"
style="color: rgb(64, 79, 87); max-height: none; overflow: visible; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 96px; margin-right: 96px; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 544px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">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!"<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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 the<span> </span><a
color="blue"
href="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"
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style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Alzheimer's
Association</a>.</p>
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plant trees in memory, please visit the <a
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href="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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