Dr. Thomas McClendon Owens

Graveside service for Dr. Thomas McClendon Owens, 95, Gadsden, who died Monday, June 6, 2016, will be at 2:30 p.m. today at Forrest Cemetery. The Rev. Mark Parris will officiate. Collier-Butler Funeral Home will be directing.

Dr. Owens was born on April 3, 1921 in Gadsden, the son of Alta McClendon and Thomas Newton Owens.

Dr. Owens is survived by his wife of 72 years, Dixie Owens; sons, Thomas (Gayla) Owens and James (Evelyn) Owens; granddaughters, Kelly (Brian) Wolfe and Natalie (Nick) Johnson; and great grandchildren, Kate and Harper Wolfe and Killian Johnson.

Dr. Owens attended Gadsden City Schools. He received a BS degree and the first two years of medicine at the University of Alabama. Dr. Owens received his MD degree from the Long Island College of Medicine in New York City in 1945. He was a member of Phi Beta Pi medical fraternity. Dr. Owens was in the Army Medical Corp during World War II and was discharged as a Captain from Maxwell Field, in 1948. He began his family practice at that time in Attalla and continued until his retirement in 1989. Dr. Owens was a member of the American Medical Association and the Medical Association of Alabama. He was formerly Chief of Staff at Baptist Memorial Hospital and Chairman of Family Practice at Holy Name of Jesus Hospital.

At the time of Dr. Owens retirement he as a member of the First United Methodist Church of Attalla where he served as a past Chairman of the Board. Dr. Owens was a Shriner and a Mason and was received his 50 years pin in 2003. Dr. Owen served on the Board of Directors of the Exchange Bank and was a charter patron of the Mary Harden Center for Cultural Arts. He had continued to be an active member of the Etowah County Medical Society and Physicians Who Care.

Visitation will be from noon until 2 p.m. at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Attalla.

Online condolences may be made at www.coliier-bulter.com.