Obituary

Esther Hodel Owens, 92, of Plainview passed away Sunday, April 20, 2008, at Covenant Hospital in Plainview. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, 2008, at First United Methodist Church Chapel with the Rev. Jerry Moore officiating, assisted by Dr. Max Browning. Burial will follow in Plainview Cemetery under the direction of Kornerstone Funeral Directors of Plainview. The family will greet family and friends at the funeral home from 6-7 p.m. today, April 22, 2008. Mrs. Owens was born Dec. 29, 1915, on the family farm near Lockney and was the daughter of John and Emma Hodel. She was the product of a pioneering agricultural family which has been farming continuously in Texas since 1865. Her grandparents, Heinrich and Wilhelmine Englebrecth, established their farm in 1885 in McLennan County near Crawford, which today is the Texas ranch of President and Mrs. George W. Bush. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Drs. John and Virginia Owens of Lincoln, Neb.; two grandsons, J. Casey Owens of Broomfield, Colo., and his wife, Susannah Benson, and their children Tennessee and Ophelia, and J. Spencer Owens of Berkeley, Calif., and his wife, Kathy Hales, and their daughter, Zia Virginia. She also is survived by her sister, Estelle Postlewaite of Colorado Springs, Colo.; sister-in-law, Lavonne Hodel of Plainview; and many nieces and nephews. She served as president of the Plainview Business and Professional Women (BPW) and as president of the Plainview Altrusa Club, and was a member of First United Methodist Church of Plainview. After her retirement, she traveled nationally and internationally with her sisters and close friends. For a quarter of a century, she greatly enjoyed the family's mountain cabin in Ruidoso, N.M., where she and her grandsons shared many special times. Esther's late husband, Jamie C. Owens, died in 1957 and she also was preceded in death by her daughter, Judith Ann; brothers Otto, Henry, Bill, Jimmy and Verner; and sisters, Minnie Lou Burson and Emma Seitz. Memorials may be made to your favorite charity.