Virginia "Ginger" Humberson Owen

Wednesday, January 8, 2025 A Tribute to Ginger Today, Virginia Humberson Owen, known as Ginger to many of her friends and family, Mom to her children, Grandmother to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, and is now with Jesus, her Lord and Savior, in heaven. She has joined those who preceded her in death, her husband Frank Brooks Owen, mother and father, John Oliver Humberson and Sarah Allyene Easterling Humberson, her mother-in-law, Maud Owen, her sister-in-law, Margaret Owen, and many friends and classmates. She was born on September 20, 1931, in Blanket, a small town in Brown County in central Texas, was raised in Huntsville, Texas (graduated from Huntsville HS in 1948), and received a B.A. degree from Sam Houston State University in 1952. She continued her studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, earning an M.A. degree in 1954. After retiring from the classroom, she returned to graduate school in 1993, through Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, earning her certification to teach visually impaired students. While at seminary, she met and married Dr. Frank Brooks Owen in 1954, and a year later gave birth to Sarah Virginia. In 1956 John Brooks came along, followed by Gordon Francis in 1957, Barbara Anne in 1960, and finally Mark Edgar in 1963. She and Frank served as Southern Baptist missionaries in Indonesia from 1955 to 1970, where Frank worked as a general surgeon at the Kediri Baptist Hospital for several years. Later, they moved the family to the town of Bukittinggi, Sumatra to open and run a day clinic for several years, working to establish a second mission hospital there. The hospital was eventually built, named Imanuel Baptist Hospital, but Frank never got to see it, dying suddenly in 1970 of a massive heart attack. Virginia proceeded with the daunting task of single-handedly (with help from many friends and family, of course) raising a family of five children, Sarah the oldest at age 15, and Mark the youngest, at age 6. The family settled in Abilene, Texas, where they had just spent a year of furlough leave. She taught public school for 29 years, special education in Abilene schools, and then later in Manville, Texas and finally in Cypress Fairbanks, working with visually impaired young children and babies for 9 years. The success of all her children is a tribute to her love and direction in raising her family, continuing this devotion to help nurture her grand-children and great-grandchildren. She loved to read, was a prolific writer of letters, stories of family adventures and memoirs, was a passionate genealogy researcher, and a talented musician, playing piano for worship services throughout her adulthood, and was an All-State cornet player in high school. One of our favorite memories of her was when she would hum the tunes of her favorite hymns while standing over the kitchen sink doing the dishes. She was very supportive of the fine arts, and her children and grandchildren as they prospered in many fields of art and expression. Virginia is survived by her children, Sarah and (Roland) Ramirez, John and (Cindy) Owen, Gordon Owen, Barbara Graham, and Mark Owen, as well as eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Also, her sister, Anna Humberson Hughitt of Port Lavaca, Texas and her two sons, Jack O’Bryan and Kurt Hughitt. Her family wishes to express heartfelt thanks to Heart to Heart Hospice and Heart At Home Senior Care for their compassionate caregiving during her last months. Visitation will be held on Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM and services will begin at 2:00 PM at Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home, 1700 Normal Park Dr., Huntsville, TX 77340. Private family burial to follow. Virginia’s mother died at a young age from breast cancer, so in her honor, Virginia chose to participate in a breast cancer research program at MD Anderson Cancer Center. In lieu of giving flowers or other gifts in her memory, it would honor Virginia to continue this tribute to her mother and donate to the MD Anderson Cancer Center. The link for donating is shown as follows: “In memory of Virginia Owen”, contributions may be made to MD Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210-4486 or MDAnderson.org/Gifts.

Virginia "Ginger" Humberson Owen

September 20, 1931 - January 8, 2025