Gary Owens

July 18, 1938 - October 05, 2021

Gary Owens Obituary Gary was born on July 18, 1938, and passed away peacefully on October 5, 2021. Gary was born in Spokane, Washington, but moved back and forth between Spokane and Woodward, Oklahoma. The family made its final move from Oklahoma after the famous Woodward tornado of 1947. Gary attended Lindbergh high school in Valleyford, and was active in football, basketball, and baseball. The friendships he made during these years lasted his entire life. He met his high school sweetheart, Jo Ann Carlson at Lindbergh. Gary and Jo Ann married in 1958, and celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary in August. While still in high school, Gary did farm work with his family on the Perry place when they were sharecroppers. This land later became the Hangman Valley Golf Course. After high school Gary started working at A&W drive-ins, and eventually became a franchisee. Gary�s involvement in the A&Ws increased when he became the President of the National Franchisee Organization. Gary and Jo Ann made friends with A&W owners around the entire United States and looked forward to seeing them at the annual franchisee meetings. Gary ran the A&W at Expo �74 and his involvement with Riverfront Park continued in later years as the concessionaire for the park. He opened hot dog and popcorn wagons and the Charlie Russell restaurant and gift shop in the U.S. Pavilion and bought a train to add as an attraction at the park. He always looked forward to the 4th of July/Good Neighbor Day at the Park. One of Gary�s dreams was to buy land in the area where he had gone hunting when he was growing up. That dream came true in 1969 when they bought land on The Palouse Highway and started growing hay and raising cattle. Shortly thereafter he purchased a nearby thoroughbred farm, and built Owens Farms into a competitive, successful horse breeding, training, and racing business, with outstanding studs like Flag Officer, Maheras, and Second Pleasure. He joined the board of directors of Playfair Race Course and the Washington Horse Breeders Association. For two short stints, he was tapped to come in, reorganize, restructure and manage the operations at Playfair. Gary and Jo Ann traveled extensively around the United States hauling their horses to various horse farms and tracks around the country. He especially loved to visit the farms in Kentucky. In the 1980s, Gary bought the Orange Julius franchise for the Spokane area and opened multiple locations in local malls and the downtown Parkade building. He opened the China South restaurant in the Lincoln Heights shopping center. It was immediately popular and had to close in order to build a second kitchen only a week after it opened. During this time, Gary and Jo Ann enjoyed spending time in Palm Springs, California. They spent their days swimming, riding bikes, dining out, and taking walks. But his favorite activity was the time-honored, illicit tradition of fishing out lost golf balls from the pond behind their condo, preferably at dusk. In the late 1980s, Gary was introduced to an Italian breed of cattle, called Piedmontese. He would later found the North American Piedmontese Association for the United States and Canada. Gary had a very progressive and knowledgeable attitude about bloodlines from his years breeding race horses and he brought that attitude with him when he transitioned back into the cattle industry. Just prior to the new millennium, Gary started to semi-retire from all his business interests, including selling his herd of cattle. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with Parkinson�s Disease. After several years of dealing with the effects of Parkinson�s, he had deep-brain stimulation (DBS) implant surgery in Spokane. He became an outspoken and passionate advocate for this surgery. It gave him a new lease on life, and he jumped back into farming. He used embryos to rapidly build another new herd of Piedmontese cattle. Between all his business interests over forty years, it is estimated that Gary employed over ten thousand individuals. Many employees have shared their stories and memories with us of how Gary and Jo Ann helped employees beyond the workday when they faced a family or life challenge. In addition to his business and farming interests, Gary loved to hunt and fish. After his DBS surgery, he looked forward to getting back into hunting and proudly claimed one buck every year. In his later years, Gary started reading voraciously and loved historical non-fiction books. He loved music his entire life and enjoyed singing prior to having Parkinson's. Gary is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jo Ann; son Layne Owens (Alan Talley) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; daughter, Lori (Joe) Cook of Spokane Valley; and daughter, Lynn Owens, of Spokane. He is also survived by grandson, Justin (Lauren) Owens of Spokane; grandson Matthew (Sofia) Cook of Pennsylvania; Laura Cook (Colton Trebe) of Montana; great-granddaughters, Vivian and Pippa Owens; his twin brother, Larry (Nancy) Owens of Spokane; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, neighbors, employees and business associates. Gary is predeceased by his grandson, Jeffrey Moberg; his sister, Billie (Fred) Johnson; and his parents, Vivian and CB Owens. In honor of Gary�s wishes, there will not be a funeral service. We are planning to hold a celebration of life gathering in the summer of 2022. � To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Gary, please visit our Tree Store