Obituary of Thomas Joseph Owens

    On May 27, 2022, Thomas J. Owens passed away from heart failure in Augusta, Georgia. Tom was born September 15, 1943 in Covington, Kentucky. He was raised in Newport, Kentucky and graduated from Newport High School. He attended Arizona State University on a basketball scholarship and subsequently transferred to Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky where he graduated with a B.S. degree in History in 1966. In 2016, Tom was inducted into the Newport High School Athletic Hall of Fame. 

     Following his college graduation, Tom taught Physical Education and Mathematics, and also coached basketball and football at Girard High School in Girard, Illinois, where he was the Head Basketball Coach for his last two years. Tom eventually became the Assistant Dean of Students and Assistant Basketball Coach at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois. 

     In May 1971, Tom left Blackburn College to accept an appointment as a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Following his graduation from New Agents Training at Quantico, he was assigned to the Indianapolis office of the FBI. Afterward, he was transferred to the Akron, Ohio Resident Agency of the Cleveland Division, and then Louisville, Kentucky. Within the FBI, Tom also served as Supervisory Special Agent at FBIHQ Division 6, Organized Crime and Drugs Section, Supervisory Special Agent of Drug and Organized Crime Squad in the Phoenix, Arizona division, Unit Chief of Mexican Drug Unit at FBIHQ, and the Charlotte, North Carolina division. Tom was Supervisory Senior Resident Agent in charge of the Raleigh, North Carolina Resident Agency at the time of his retirement from the FBI in October of 1996.

     Tom loved his family, friends, fishing, golf, playing music and adventuring in his RV.

     Tom is survived by his wife Ellen Braddy Owens of Aiken, South Carolina; daughter Tiffany Owens of Tacoma, Washington; daughter Carrie Owens and granddaughter Carson Owens of Denver, Colorado; daughter Whitley Owens and granddaughter Stevie Drye of Grapevine, Texas; and sister Donna Gerros of Sun Lakes, Arizona.

     All burial arrangements will be private.