Love you forever and forever.

Love you with all my heart.

Love you when we're together.

Love you when we're apart.

("I Will," The Beatles)

James Colby Owens was born August 5, 1946, to Merlin Ralph Owens and Eileen Sarah Hall Owens in Biloxi, Mississippi. He passed from this life on May 16, 2025, in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the age of 78.

Jim's father was a career military officer and pilot who flew air-sea rescue missions in the Air Force during WWII. He was proud of his dad and proud to call himself a "military brat." His father's assignments took him across the US and the world, living in Mississippi, Georgia, Japan, Virginia, California, Washington, D.C., Illinois, New Jersey and Germany. He lived in occupied Japan following the war and, at the age of two, traveled there with his mother and sister on an Army transport ship that was caught in a typhoon.

Jim attended General H.H. Arnold High School in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he graduated in 1965. He was a superior athlete, lettering in football, basketball, baseball, track, soccer and volleyball. His Senior Class Trip was to Rome, Italy. He would hate that this little tidbit was shared, but he was voted "Most Attractive" in his graduating class of over 400. (His wife would have to agree!) He went to high school with Pricilla Wagner, who later became Pricilla Presley after meeting Elvis while stationed in Germany during his stint in the Army.

His high school sports teams played other U.S. military high schools across Europe. On a basketball trip to London in 1962, Jim visited a local record shop where everyone was talking about this new group called "The Beatles." The shop owner convinced him to buy their first 45, called "Love Me Do." He took it back to Germany and brought it to a party with friends. At first no one wanted to play it, but by the end of the party everyone was in love with The Beatles. His kids and grandkids are very well versed in all things Beatles and know most of their songs. His favorite lullabies for the little ones were always sweet Beatles tunes.

Jim served in the United States Air Force from 1968-1972 as a communication specialist. He was stationed in Texas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Incirlik, Turkey. In Turkey, he was one of a dozen US soldiers stationed with other allied forces, at a secret location on a mountain of rock in the middle of the desert. He was part of a team responsible for transmitting classified nuclear codes daily--codes that were immediately scrambled and destroyed.

Aside from work in the military he had quite a variety of jobs. He painted houses on the hilly streets of San Francisco, worked for a boat builder in New Jersey, a construction company in Washington state, and ran "The Bar Ditch" in Stillwater, OK, during his college years at Oklahoma State University. He graduated in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. In 1979 he started a long and fulfilling career at OSU as a Project Engineer, retiring in 2012.

Ask anyone about Jim and they will always talk about his kindness first. He had such an open heart and always put others before himself. He was a very good listener with an immeasurable amount of patience and a lighthearted jokester with an awesome sense of humor. As evidenced by his teasing character, he believed it was his calling to make you laugh and to bring a little joy into your life. His life-long best friend since high school, Jeff Pisanos, shared: "There are very few friends you have in life that you would be willing to share a foxhole with. Jim was at the top of the list. No question of friendship, loyalty, devotion and honesty. He was the man!"

He loved sports, fly fishing, snow skiing, camping, hiking, raising quarter horses, The Beatles, chip carving--or really anything that involved wood and tools (lots of tools). He also loved playing his Fender guitar, but mostly he loved his family. He simply adored babies, especially his own, but would snuggle anyone's who would let him. He often said that he spent his whole life preparing him for his true calling in life, being a "Grandpa." That was a title he was most proud of and wore so well.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 28 years, Linda Peale Owens of Tulsa, OK; Brother, Peter Owens of Moses Lake, WA; Son, Colby Owens (Becky) of Everett, WA; Daughters, Nicole Owens Kohler (Sam) of Guthrie, OK and Rachel Peale Hay (Ben) of Tulsa OK; Nine grandchildren: Taylor and Noah Bennett, Roman and Brooklyn Paine, Ellen Rowan Hay and Lucas Hay, all of Tulsa, OK; Edison and Finnley Owens of Everett, WA; and Samuel James "SJ" Kohler of Guthrie, OK. He was preceded in death by his parents and his oldest daughter, Jennifer Owens Paine.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that you consider a memorial contribution to The Mast Cell Disease Society at tmsforacure.org to further research, educate healthcare professionals and offer support for patients and families dealing with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.

A private memorial celebration of life will be held with family and friends.

"And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love, you make."

(The last verse of the last Beatles song on their last album.)