OWENS, Lester Carl

OWENS, WILSON, DEEMER, LAYTON, NEGLEY, HEMMILLKEPNER, EARLEY, VAN PELT, STEVENS, LANE, REED, GREENE

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 11/24/2016 at 05:18:08

Obituary ~ Lester Carl Owens
December 2, 1917 ~ September 30, 2016

Leon Journal-Reporter
Leon, Decatur County, Iowa

Lester Carl Owens, age 98, of Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Mark Carl and Blanche (Wilson) Owens, was born December 2, 1917, in rural Decatur County, Iowa near Leon. He died at the University Park Nursing and Rehab Center in Des Moines, Iowa on September 30, 2016.

Lester grew up on the family farm and attended Whitehall School east of Leon. He graduated from Leon High School in 1936. Growing up Lester loved to hunt and fish and always had a knack for mechanics of bikes, cars, and auto bodywork.

Lester married Goldie Irene Deemer on June 15, 1938, in Princeton, Missouri. To this union, one daughter, Loretta Kay, was born. Kay married John Franklin Layton. Lester’s three grandchildren, Gay Lynn, Susan Kay, and Randy Franklin, were born to this union. Lester and Goldie provided for Kay and the grandchildren.

Lester was called to serve his country on June 14, 1944, by the United States Navy Air Force. He served at a naval base in Vero Beach, Florida. He worked on planes and flew missions out many times. Lester received an honorable discharge on February 4, 1946, for his service.

Lester received training and tools for auto bodywork while in the service and this was his life work. He worked at many shops, from Leon to Des Moines, Iowa. From 1956 to 1969, he worked at White Ford Motor Company in Lamoni, Iowa. He was known for rebuilding anything auto body and putting in more auto glass then any other. The man could work, Amen!

In 1969, Lester worked for Decatur County, Iowa in Leon working as a surveyor and body man and various other tasks. He retired in 1979, and then worked part-time taking care of Goldie until her death in 1987. He then continued to do body work and sold monuments for Guy Goughnour and others.

Lester met an old friend, Evelyn Negley, and the two were together for 17 years until Evelyn had to go to a care center. Lester moved to Des Moines, Iowa to Manor Care with his granddaughter, Susan, who had MS. Later he moved to assisted living at Walden Point in Des Moines. Here he met Dorothy Hammill and the two were married there. They both moved to a care center in Denton, Texas in 2014. She died in 2015, so Lester flew back to Des Moines and lived with Randy and Becky for a short time before moving into University Park Nursing and Rehab Center when he was called home.

Lester always had a smile, a hug, and a prayer for everybody; he was an inspiration to any one who met him.

Preceding him to Heaven were his parents; step-mother, Mirdith Owens; wives, Goldie Owens, Evelyn Owens, and Dorothy Owens; son-in-law, Carl Layton; daughter, Loretta Kay Kepner; granddaughter, Susan Earley; and granddaughter-in-law, Kelle Layton; siblings, Clarence Owens, Earl Owens, Myrtle Van Pelt, and infant Dorothy Owens and half brother, Archie Owens.

Survivors include his grandchildren, Randy and Becky Layton of Runnells, Iowa and Gay and Doyle Stevens of Sulphur Springs, Texas; great grandchildren, Chad Layton and Jennifer Layton, both of Leon, Iowa and Stacy Earley of West Des Moines, Iowa; step great grandchildren, James Lane of Osceola, Iowa and Becky Reed of Runnells; 10 great, great grandchildren; half brother, Homer Owens of Princeton, Missouri; half sister of Myrtle Owens Greene and husband, Paul of Leon; and other relatives and friends.

Interment was made at Leon Cemetery.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2016

Decatur Obituaries maintained by Constance McDaniel Hall.
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