Melba Sue (McDugle) Owen

Melba Sue Jones Owen, resident of the Mt. Pleasant Community near Collierville, retired medical technologist and wife of Walter George Owen, Sr. died Sunday afternoon, December 16, 2012 at her residence. She was 68 years of age and died following an illness of one year.

Services of Remembrance for Mrs. Owen were conducted at 1 P.M. Wednesday, December 19th at the Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church with Rev. Ray Branch, pastor of the church officiating. Special remarks and reflections were provided by Mrs. Owen’s granddaughters, Crystall Hester, Erica Owen and Codi Lynn Hester Thompson. Interment followed in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. Arrangements were provided by the Piperton Funeral Office of Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes & Cremation Center.

Mrs. Owen was born March 6, 1944 in Memphis. She was preceded in death by her parents, Roy Herman Jones and Mattie Mauce McDugle Jones. She received her education in the Shelby County Public School System, attending Treadwell High School in Memphis and continued her education at Southwest Tennessee Community College, earning her Associate’s Degree in Medical Technology.

Mrs. Owen served as a medical technologist at the Memphis Veterans Medical Center for 20 years before her retirement 12 years ago. She was married January 16, 1960 to Walter George Owen, Sr., retired engineer for the Western Textile Products in Memphis, who survives. Mr. and  Mrs. Owen had been residents of the Mt. Pleasant Community since 1979 and she was a devoted member of the Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church.

Mrs. Owen will be remembered as a person with a passion for hummingbirds and enjoyed many hours of feeding and observing these tiny creatures created by God. She was a member of the Memphis Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and was known for her devotion to her family and to her community.

In addition to her husband of 52 years, Mrs. Owen is survived by her daughter, Cecelia Owen Hester (Curtis) of Mt. Pleasant, MS; her son, Walter Owen, Jr. (Tina) of Mt. Pleasant, MS; her sister, Jean Elaine Dunn of Mt. Pleasant, MS; her brother, Roy Herman Jones, Jr. of Pulaski, TN; five grandchildren, Bruce Sebring, Crystall Hester, Walter Owen, III, Codi Lynn Hester Thompson, Erica Owen; and six great grandchildren.

Those honored to serve as casketbearers were Bruce Sebring, Matt Thompson, Cody Teel, Don Whitley, Ken Ranks and Mike Lewis.
Honorary casketbearers were Walter Owen III and Reid Patterson.

The family requests that memorials be directed to the Shelby County Chapter of the ALS Association, 670 Warwick Oaks Lane East, Collierville, TN 38017 or to the Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church, 8 Methodist Street, Holly Springs, MS 38635.