Mr. Ernest Isaac Owens

June 22, 1930 - June 29, 2018

Mr. Ernest Isaac Owens, age 88, departed this life and entered eternal heavenly peace on June 29, 2018. Ernest Isaac Owens was born to Levi and India Owens on June 22, 1930, in Tampa, Florida. He was one of eight children, six girls and two boys. He told many stories of his childhood, like how his older sisters dressed him as one of their dolls and how his father struggled to feed the family and one time brought home a squirrel for dinner, which was not well received by the family. All of the children played some kind of musical instrument, his choice was the drums. Everyone worked as soon as they were able, he caddied and ran errands. Ernest joined the Army on September 21, 1948, before his eighteenth birthday. He traveled such places as Korea, Germany and Japan. Stateside he was stationed at Fort Tilden and MacDill Air Force Bases to name a couple. Ernest married Bernice Williams Owens and they had three daughters, Shirley, Sheila, and Sandra (deceased). His second marriage was to Bertha W. Brown. They had a son, Ernest Jr. (deceased) and daughter, Erika Owens. Mr. Owens was a sports enthusiast. He bowled in leagues, golfed, and fished. When football season would start, Ernest was glued to the television and was sad when the season ended. But then there would be basketball season, baseball season, bowling, and boxing to watch. If there were no games on, a western show, The Big Valley, The Rifleman, or Bonanza would do "mighty fine." When Ernest retired from the Army as a Master Sergeant he lived in the Soldier's Home in D.C. for a few years and then moved to Durham, North Carolina where he gardened, worked out, baby sat, and collected a variety of items from coins to wishbones. His stories and belly laugh will be missed by his surviving children, grand children, and friends. To his great grandchildren, those of us here will pass along that laugh and all those stories. At this time, funeral arrangements for Mr. Ernest Isaac Owens are incomplete.