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Guest Commentary: A tribute to Don Owen

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Don Owen is a longtime resident and former dairyman of Ramona who celebrated his 95th birthday in April with more than 100 relatives and friends at San Vicente Resort.

Before he retired in 1972 he kept 80 to 100 milking cows at his ranch on 16th Street in Ramona, fed and milked them, pasteurized the milk and delivered it door to door to a lot of retail customers. He would start his day by getting up about 3:30 a.m. and milking 85 cows. He had a milking machine and some hired help, but he did a lot of the work himself, and milking took about three hours, twice a day. Each cow had to be handled separately, and that amounted to a great many udders, teats and swishing tails.

It was only the beginning at 3:30 a.m., because the cows had to be fed, watered and turned out, the manure shoveled, and the milk processed, bottled and delivered. Except for delivery, the routine was repeated every day, including Saturdays and Sundays, 365 days a year.

Don Owen was busy and hard-working to a degree that you can hardly imagine nowadays. I grew up on a small retail dairy farm and experienced similar work, but we kept only 16 to 18 cows.

During his long retirement Don has dedicated himself to service to the community and his gardening hobby, living on the same large property that supported his dairy business. He has been a member of Ramona Rotary Club since 1956 and has been one of its most faithful attendees and workers, and he was club president in his turn. I worked with him at Rotary yard sales and installing Rotary flag sockets on Main Street, and he always allowed the Rotary club to use his old dairy building rent-free for equipment storage.

He was noted for gathering day-old bread and distributing it personally to charity outlets in Ramona. Don also has been a long and faithful member of First Congregational Church on D Street. He has been a leader in the annual pumpkin-growing contest in Ramona, and has given away a great deal of his garden produce.

A feature of Don’s character and personality is modesty. He has done his good works without fuss, talk or expectation of recognition or publicity — he just does them.

During all of his adult life Don has had a major health problem, but it has not held him back. He has taken good care of himself and kept up his activity and exercise, and has appeared to be hearty and strong.

I used the word “faithful” above for Don, and I could quote “Semper Fi” (Always faithful), the famous Marine motto, as he has exemplified steadiness and faithfulness in his community service. He demonstrates the meaning of the Rotary mantra, “Service above Self.”

At age 95 he still attends weekly Rotary meetings regularly. In his previous dairy business he was a model of hard work and fair service to his customers.

I’m calling your attention to Don Owen because his service to Ramona has spanned over 60 years since he started in business for himself and has covered so much change in vocations and in society. There is nobody else around like him. “They don’t make them like him any more.”

I visited Don recently and he told me he is ready to keep on living, and we hope to see him reach at least 100 years. We salute him and wish him well as he carries on.

Bernie Kuhn, a Ramona resident, served as a Ramona Rotarian with Owen for many years.

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