Ronald J. Owens

Ron was born at St. Anthony's hospital in OKC to Kenneth Jack Owens & Evelyn McBride Owens. He stepped into eternity at Integris Hospice Care. He is survived by his son, Brian Owens and wife Tracee, of Edmond and his precious grandchildren Lorne and Cash. He was also father to 3 stepchildren: Rene Craig and husband Earl and their family of Oklahoma City; Todd Miller and wife Michelle and their family, of Cashion: and Brett Miller, who preceded him in death. He was also preceded in death by his parents, and cousin, Joy Ann McBride.

He graduated from NW Classen High School in 1963, then Central State University with a BS in Chemistry in 1973. He served honorably in the US Army, including service in the Military Police, from 67 to 69. He joined the Oklahoma City Police Department in December of 1969 and spent a prosperous 30 year career there including 7 years in patrol, 8 years as a homicide detective, Sargent and Lieutenant, capping his career as a Captain in Criminal Intelligence before retiring on January 1, 2000. He married JoAnn (Stettheimer) Owens June 30, 1972. In retirement, he enjoyed time with his family and writing books.

Those are the facts as faithfully, succinctly and accurately as we can recite them. Ron was a man of facts and made an outstanding career out of utilizing them, but facts don’t come remotely close to explaining what kind of person he was or the life he lived.

In a scant 75 years, he survived trauma most of us can’t imagine, chased down a whole bunch of bad guys, made friends with a few good guys, had a deep affection for his gorgeous 57 Chevy, secretly played drums in rock and roll bands to pay for his first 3 years of college (it only took him 7 to graduate but who’s counting?), published 7 books, any of whose reading will fascinate, enrage, sadden or gratify you (but we all know forewords from other authors are paid for…cheaply), and had stories that kept lots of people on the edge of their seats for hours after. There is no way in the confines of this brief statement to fully characterize what an incredible person he was.

Among those he trusted…and those were scant few…he left us with cherished memories and the indelible imprints on our lives of a man's character that can’t be measured in words. We will miss him terribly.