Oscar started school in the one-room schoolhouse known as Liberty 4 before switching to New Bethel when his sister, Mary, who was ten years older than he, began teaching at New Bethel, another one-room schoolhouse. He walked to school, in the winter months skating on the ponds on the way there and back.

"Of course our folks told us, 'Don't skate on the ponds,and we didn't till we got to them," he laughed.

In 1939, his father died at the age of 58 of a ruptured appendix. The family stayed on at the farm for a few more years in a home that, like most farm homes in those days, had no electricity.

Just after World War II began, after Oscar had completed the eighth grade at New Bethel School, his family moved to McKenzie where he attended high school.

In earlier years, Oscar's sister had to board with someone in order to attend high school. Sara recalled that her mother, as well, had to board with someone so that she could go to school, from which she graduated in 1927. Problems with transportation to relatively distant city schools meant that many rural children were limited to an eighth grade education before school buses began serving country communities.

Sara, too, started school in a one-room country schoolhouse, attending Perry's School during the last year of its existence before starting to Henry School where she remained until graduation.

Skating on the ponds around town in Henry was a treat that Sara recalled as well. "When the ice started cracking, we'd run," she said as she and Oscar recalled colder winters that made the outdoors fun during winter time.

She walked a mile to the high school through a field where steps had been built to help students get over the fence more easily. Oscar had to climb the fences for the shortcuts to school during his grade school years before moving to town. It was common for children everywhere to take shortcuts through fields and pastures.

Oscar described the depression years during which the two were youngsters: "At the time that we grew up there wasn't a whole lot of money so people visited a lot. A lot of people came to our house after church for dinner."

Dinner was one area where the Owens weren't so poor. They grew their own food, canning and preserving it for the winter months. Tenderloins were canned while other meats were salted and hung up. They had all the standard fare plus peanuts, popcorn and chickens.

"We had plenty to eat," says Oscar, who contrasted the plentiful dinners with the fact that there were no jobs to be found. "Most of the work was farmers swapping back and forth or sending a kid to help a neighbor, then they would come over and help you."

Working on the farm was a job that started early in life. "One of the first things I remember is dropping potato plants," he recalled. "All that hurt was your back bending over."

He was lucky to land a job after school working for C.H. Summers Wholesale where he worked for Red Summers as a stock boy.

"There wasn't many jobs for kids back then," he mused, "I mowed his yard, washed his car, unloaded the trucks - anything he wanted me to do - it didn't matter because I was getting 30 cents an hour and it was steady work."

Reminiscing about the times when he and Sara were children, Oscar said, "We remember when the streets at night in McKenzie had people there till midnight. Everybody came to town; they didn't have anything else to do. They would stand around up there and talk. Things used to be more relaxed and people would just visit; kids and everybody weren't overscheduled and people didn't eat out all that much then."

Then television became popular and people started staying home to watch Gunsmoke and Lawrence Welk, he said.

Right after high school, Oscar began his college career, but, unsure of what he wanted to do, he quit after the first quarter to go to work for the Bank of Gleason where his brother, Bob, was assistant cashier. In those days in the banking industry, the president of a bank was a member of the board who did little or no actual work in the bank. The cashier was the highest office within the bank itself.

Oscar worked at the bank from the end of 1950 until 1952, when he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War, when he was 22 years old.

World War II was a traumatic time for the Owen family with Oscar's older brother, Bob, having already shipped out to the war a few months before Oscar was called.

Once he finished basic training, Oscar was sent straight away to join other soldiers in the Korean War, leaving from the same port in Seattle that his brother had left from. When he got to Japan, Oscar inquired about Bob's whereabouts and learned that he had been sent to Okinawa where he served the majority of his time.

In recommending Owen for the bronze star, his commanding officer, First Lieutenant George Block, stated, "His repeated disregard of self while treating casualties under enemy fire is typical of his high caliber performance of duty... SFC Owen personally directed the litter bearer section to the highest point of efficiency. It was his section, while under enemy fire, (that) saved hundreds of men's lives... SFC Owen personally exposed himself to enemy fire to see that the best possible evacuation was given to the friendly wounded. "

Lieutenant Block observed that Owen provided "the type of leadership and inspiration that won him the respect and admiration of all who knew him," traits that followed him in his civilian life after the war was over.

Home from the Army, Oscar enrolled at Bethel College where he studied elementary education while working part-time for his old employer, Red Summers. While at Bethel, he met Sara Kemp, the secondary education major who became his wife.

Life in the United States was becoming more normal with activities like Little League baseball and other sports that had fallen by the wayside with no one left at home to coach the teams starting up once more.

Oscar left his part-time job when he gained more lucrative employment at the U.S. Post Office. "You might work fulltime but they didn't guarantee that," he said, explaining the part-time status of the sometimes full-time post office position.

The summer after the couple graduated from Bethel, they were married in the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church where Sara had attended since childhood.

Sara worked in the Trezevant school system for three years, splitting her time between teaching and serving as the school's secretary. She quit teaching as the family grew to include two children, Dana and Clayton. When the boys started school, she began managing the bookstore at Bethel College, a job she held for the next 27 years.

Oscar continued his work with the post office, using his certification in elementary education only a few times, "filling in when needed", while making his work at the post office into a career spanning 37 years.

Both Owen sons, Dana and Clayton, attended Union University as did their wives, with all four attending school at the same time for part of their college careers. Dana and Karen Owen live in McKenzie where he is a bank examiner and she works at Carroll Bank and Trust Company. Clayton is the associate pastor and educational director at the First Baptist Church in McKenze, while his wife, Mary, is the technical coordinator for the McKenzie School System. Dana and Karen have 2 children, a boy and a girl, while Clayton and Mary have 3 children, two boys and one daughter. The children range in age from five to 13 years old.

After his retirement from the post office, Oscar returned to the bank of Gleason 50 years after first starting to work there. He works two half days per week in addition to being treasurer of the Rotary Club of which he has been a member on and off since 1950. He has been an active volunteer at the Methodist Hospital in McKenzie for the last 8-10 years, makes it a point to play golf at least twice per week, and is a great fan of the Tennessee Vols and, more recently, the Tennessee Titans. Every fall Oscar and other members of the "Vols Squad" get together to enjoy dinner together after which they watch the Vols on big-screen TV.

Sara enjoys "digging in the yard", which is apparent from the lovely scenery from the couple's sunroom. She also enjoys cooking, sewing and crocheting. "I've made one quilt and I hope to make another one," she says, "but the most enjoyable thing is keeping the grandchildren."

Oscar and Sara have traveled to Switzerland, Germany and Austria as well as New England and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Sara recalls summer travels in their van and camper that the family took when the boys were younger. "We did a lot of traveling just in the states when they were young," she recalled fondly.

The entire family claims membership in the First Baptist Church in McKenzie where Oscar is a Sunday School teacher and a deacon, Clayton is associate pastor, and Dana is a floating substitute teacher for Sunday School classes as well as being a Gideon. Before church services, Sara visits the residents at Magnolia Manor every Sunday morning where she holds Sunday School class and plays the piano. With all the children in one church, Sara says, "That's one thing I have the privilege of seeing - all the children and grandchildren in church every Sunday."

His perspective colored by recent terrorist attacks in America, Oscar says, "We just try to enjoy every day. In light of what has happened, I think we all just take our freedom for granted. When you get up in the morning you don't know what's going to happen. I wish more people would go to the church of their choice."

Sara has one brother, Charles Kemp, who runs Tri-County Furniture Company in McKenzie. Oscar's sister is Mary Travillian of Gleason. His brother, Bob, passed away in 1999.

Phone (731) 352-3323 or Fax (731) 352-3322
washburn@mckenziebanner.com