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 Poteau News
LeFlore County, Oklahoma
September 2003
Owen reaches century mark
Ms. Dessie L. Taylor Owen, a resident of the Spiro Nursing Home, was
inducted Sept. 5 into the Centenarian Club of Oklahoma by the KEDDO Area
Agency on Aging of Wilburton. She was presented with a Centenarian
Certificate, a Golden Okie pin and a Guardian Angel pin.
Ms. Dessie L. Taylor Owen was born 100 years ago on Aug. 16, 1903, in
Oklahoma at a little community called Poker Bend.
Her parents were Tom Madison Taylor, a farmer, and Ida Lee Brown Taylor.
At the age of six, Dessie lost her mother and baby brother, leaving her
father to raise her.
Dessie attended school in the Poker Bend, Williams and Fairview
communities where she completed the eighth grade.
In 1921 Dessie married Jessie Robert (Bob) Andrew Owen. The couple had
five children, twin girls and three boys: Lois M. Owen Baxter and Doris
Owen McWaters, both of Spiro; Edward Owen, deceased; and Albert Owen and
Jessie Lee Owen, both of Shady Point.
As a little girl growing up, Dessie enjoyed church picnics, quilting
clubs and pot luck dinners with her family and friends. As she got older
she liked to sight-see. She has seen the ocean and she enjoyed going to
a place called "Carls Cavern." She also likes exploring caves.
Dessie's favorite family tradition and holiday as a little girl growing
up and as an adult is the Christmas holidays -- when all her family and
her children would come home.
Remembering the changes of her century, Dessie recalled seeing forms of
transportation changing from buggies and wagons to T-Models, then to
Chevrolets and to airplanes.
She has traveled to New Mexico, California, Arizona, Arkansas and
Florida. Her favorite foods are bacon and eggs, grapes and those good
ole' mustard greens.
Dessie attributes her long life to growing her own foods including
fruits the old fashioned way, behaving herself and by staying busy. She
says, "I keep my mind busy by playing solitaire."
Ms. Dessie L. Taylor Owen is a proud grandmother of 11,
great-grandmother of 10 and a great-great-grandmother of seven. She is a
very intelligent little lady to meet and a refreshing joy to visit.
09 July 2009
Dessie Lagertie Owen, 105, of Spiro, passed away July 6, 2009, in Fort Smith, Ark. She was born Aug. 16, 1903, in Poker Bend, Indian Territory and was a homemaker. She was preceded in death by her husband Jesse "Bob" Owen; a son, Edward Madison Owen; and her parents, Thomas Madison and Ida Lee (Brown) Taylor.
She is survived by two daughters and son-in-law, Lois Baxter of Spiro and Doris and Wayne McWaters of Shady Point; two sons, Albert Owen and Jesse Owen, both of Shady Point; 11 grandchildren/ 20 great-grandchildren; 16 great-great-grandchildren; numerous other relatives, friends and loved ones.
Graveside services will be conducted Saturday at 11 a.m. at New Hope Cemetery, Spiro, with Rev. James Hill officiating. The family will be at the funeral home Friday from 5 until 7 p.m. for visitation. Evans and Miller Funeral Home, Poteau, is in charge of arrangements.
created: 25 Sep 2003
Updated:
08 Nov 2009
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