Bennett Lee Owens, 83, formerly of Vero Beach

Bennett Lee Owens, 83, of Pittsboro, N.C., and formerly of Vero Beach, died on Thursday, April 15, 2010 at his home in Fearrington Village. The cause of death was cancer.

He was born on July 25, 1926 in Cincinnati to Burleigh and Esther Owens. He graduated from Denison University after serving in the United States Navy for two years. He met Elizabeth Richards at Denison and married her in July, 1948.

He went on to earn his Bachelor of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 1952. Reverend Owens served as minister at the First Baptist Church of Sidney, Ohio and the New Mountview Baptist Church, and was Curate of St. Albans Church in Bexley, Ohio. In 1965 he was the interim Episcopal Chaplain at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Mr. Owens and his family moved to Montclair, N.J., in 1966, and for the next two years he was Coordinator of Voluntary Services for the National Episcopal Church. During this time he also ministered to jazz musicians in New York City and conducted the first ever jazz communion service in National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., with Bishop Daniel T. Corrigan, a civil rights leader. He also worked as a writer for the Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign.

He spent the majority of his career as Assistant to the Executive Director of the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board.

He retired in 1988 and soon thereafter he and his wife moved to Vero Beach where they resided from 1990-2004.

He is predeceased by his only brother, Lloyd, and his oldest son, Timothy.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; son, Christopher and daughter-in-law, Suderat of Austin, Texas; daughter, Stephanie and son-in-law, Mark Lurie of Montclair, N.J.; daughter, Cynthia and son-in-law, Phillip Bors of Pittsboro; daughter-in-law, Susan Owens of Naples; seven grandchildren: Kelsey Gale Owens, Bee and First Owens, Matthew and Jordan Lurie, Allory and Isabel Bors; brother-in-law, David O. Richards of Granville, Ohio; and sister-in-law, Louise Richards of Oberlin, Ohio.

A private memorial service will be held in North Carolina at a later date. Those who wish may contribute to UNC HOSPICE, P.O. Box 1077, Pittsboro, NC 27312.

Hall-Wynne Funeral Service is helping the family with arrangements.

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