Wayne County Press
Fairfield Illinois
Monday, Sept. 30, 1985
Page 2

City Airport Manager, Raymond L. "Pete" Owen, 74, of rural Fairfield, died at 12:54 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, 1985, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt. Vernon following a lingering illness.

Mr. Owen was hospitalized several times during the past few months to receive treatment for a brain tumor. A manager at Fairfield Municipal Airport for the last seven years, he was also well-known as a quail raiser.

Funeral services were conducted at 2 p.m. Sunday at Johnson Funeral Home with Rev. George Musgrave, Rev. Alva Merritt and Rev. Merrit Strickland officiating.  Interment was in Indian Prairie Cemetery at Rinard.

A native of Wayne county, Mr. Owen was born Apr. 2, 1911, the son of Roy and Grace Miller Owen. He and his family moved to Flora when he was young.

Mr. Owen married the former Mable Lane June 24, 1933, at her home in rural Cisne.  The couple moved to Fairfield 47 years ago.

Mr. Owen first worked in the oilfields later at Flora International Shoe Company, and then, as a bus driver for Boyleston and Fairfield school systems, before managing the airport.

He was a member of Victory General Baptist Church at Boyleston, and formerly belonged to the Fairfield Oddfellows.

Survivors include his wife, Mable Owen, of Fairfield; one son, Lane "Corky" Owen, of Peoria; four brothers Everett Owen, of Tucson, Ariz.; Tom Owen, of Chandler, Ariz., Robert Owen, of Beckmyer; and Melvin Owen, of Carmi, one sister, Mrs. Pauline Extrom, of Tucson, Ariz., five grandchildren; and seven great- grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by one sister.