Fred Sterling Owen - 1930 - 2019

Fred Sterling Owen passed on May 6, 2019. He was born June 27, 1930, at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, to father Marion Thompson Owen and mother Nancy Mullins Owen, with one sister, Juanna Claire Owen (Kennon).
He attended public schools in Louisville, and high school in Anchorage, Kentucky, Class of 1948.
Fred enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1948, and then reenlisted in 1951, serving around USS Newport News (plank owner), USS Des Moines (both heavy cruisers) in the Atlantic and Sixth Fleet, playing basketball on the Sixth Fleet championship team in 1949 and 1950.
He worked at various times as a radio announcer, TV announcer, golf club professional, restaurateur and auto salesman, retiring from the Capitol Chevrolet team in 1995. He directed nearly 100 community theater productions in Florence and Beaverton, S.E., Savannah, Georgia, Costa Mesa, California, McMinnville, Oregon, and Salem, Oregon. He also appeared in numerous stage productions.
Fred was married to Annje Gibbons in Costa Mesa in 1977 before moving to Oregon in 1979, and Salem in 1987. He had one daughter, Terri Owen Irland of Canyon Lake, California; two step-daughters, Tracey Ward and Teresa Pratt of McMinnville; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A “Tribute to Fred Owen” will be held at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, June 23, at Gallery Theater, 210 N.E. Ford St.. McMinnville.