Willie Owings
April 28, 1932 - October 21, 2020
Obituary
Willie Owings, 88, of Sea Tac, Washington died Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at Valley View Medical Hospital. He was born, April 28, 1932 in South Carolina to Geneva Owings. Willie was one of two children and was close to his mother. He began sharecropping with her and his extended family at the age of nine years old. His family left behind sharecropping and moved to Washington D.C. when he was 12 years old to begin a new life. Willie had one son at a young age, Torrence Owings. At the age of 19, he was drafted into the Korean War and joined the Air Force.
In 1953, he married Barbara Louise Jackson and they had four children, Derrick Owings, Darcia Tudor, Stacey Frantzen, and Stephanie Owings. Willie also served in the Viet Nam War. When he returned from Viet Nam, he was stationed at Wiesbaden Air Force Base, Germany. Following that tour, he retired at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska in 1972. He went to work at U.S. Bank in which he facilitated their computer billing program.
Willie and Barbara stayed on in Nebraska for 25 years before retiring from the bank and returning to Washington D.C. in 1995 with his wife to be near family and friends. In 2015, after Barbara’s mother’s death, they left D.C. for the Pacific Northwest, where their daughters lived.
An athletic man who valued his health, Willie enjoyed playing games with his family. He bowled once a week with his friends from the Andrew Air Force commissary where he carried groceries for extra money after he retired. He liked to garden and grew fresh greens and tomatoes for all the visitors moving through their new home. Willie and Barbara had an open door policy for their family and friends. There were weekend bar-b-ques and grand children who lived with them as they started new lives. Willie is survived by his wife Barbara Owings, his sister Roberta Grant, his five children (Torrence, Derrick, Darcia, Stacey and Stephanie), nine grand-children (Sharita, Kylie, Anthony, Danielle, Mackenzie, Payton, Jasmine, Quinn, and Tessa), and three great grand-children (Isabella, Lilliana, Kinsley).
He will be laid to rest at the Tahoma National Cemetery on Monday, November 2, 2020. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you honor veterans, especially Vietnam Veterans or help the homeless. Thank you.
I will always love you.
Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of joy, you must have somebody to share it with. I saw that joy whenever I saw my cousin Barbara and Willie. A loving and kind couple to all. My sincere condolence and prayers of comfort to you Barbara and the family.
Love,
Artie Cobb (Snook)