Owen Stewart Rice

03/13/1912 - 09/25/2010

Owen Stewart Rice
Owen Stewart Rice, 98, died Saturday, September 25th, 2010 at his residence in Santa Maria of natural causes.
He was born on March 13, 1912 at Lucas Hospital. The son of Owen T. and Viola C. Rice, he was a fourth generation resident of Santa Maria.
Owen spent his childhood helping his father on the ranch and playing practical jokes on friends. After graduating from Santa Maria High in 1930, he attended San Diego State University on a football scholarship. He played four years of football and remains in the SDSU hall of fame. Upon returning from San Diego with a degree in economics, Owen worked for the Sea Side Oil Company. He never lost sight of agriculture, however, and was soon able to secure the lease on a small ranch. He negotiated the use of his father's farm equipment, and Owen began farming on his own in 1936. Years later, he and his father merged their operations, creating Owen T. Rice & Son, which has since been renamed OSR Enterprises, Inc. The company has now been farming for 104 years.
Throughout his career, Owen enjoyed supporting the community. A partial list of his achievements include: Chairman of the local land Farm Bureau Center (1940), Elected to the State Farm Bureau Board of Directors representing Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties (1942), Served on the War Board handling implement rationing (1942), Elected to the Santa Maria High School and Santa Maria Junior College Board of Directors (1954, Retired as Chairman 1989), Spokesman for the American Sugar Beet Growers at the World Sugar Conference in Geneva, Switzerland (1972, Retired as Chairman 1988), Served as Chairman of the local land bank (Retired 1987), Served as the California Agricultural Leadership Board Vice-President (Retired 1988), Served as a member of the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation Board (31 years), the 1989 Santa Barbara Country 'Farmer of the Year', a member of the Santa Maria Elks Lodge #1538 for over 65 years, and he was honored as Grand Marshall at the 59th Annual Elks Rodeo.
In addition to farming, he had a passion for aviation. He received his pilot's license in the 1940's, owned several small Cessna's and accumulated over 4,000 hours in the air. One of his favorite destinations was Bass Lake, where he and his wife Betty spent much of their time. Other hobbies included international travel and hunting.
Owen is survived by two children, James Rice and wife Linda of Pismo Beach and Carolyn Ball and husband Stanley of Sonoma, a step-daughter, Meribeth Anderson and husband Jim of Thousand Oaks, eight grandchildren, Michael Ball of Thousand Oaks, Darrell & Leslie Ball of Toronto, Canada, Stacie Rice of Santa Maria, Andrew & Megan Rice of Nipomo, Alison & Charlie Sanchez of Palm Springs, and Amber Whittington of North Carolina, six great-grandchildren, Sadie, Avery, Darby, Carson, Alaina and Carla, two cousins, Patty Boyd and Lyndall Stewart, as well as several nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by Betty Rice (December 1st, 2003), his wife of 45 years and William C. Rice (1961), his brother.
Owen lived a long and wonderful life. The family would like to extend a special thanks to his caregivers for their dedication and loyalty to the Rice family. Because of them, Owen died peacefully, in the same residence where he spent his childhood, on the ranch.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 11:00 am at the First Christian Church, 1505 South College Drive, Santa Maria with Dr. Charles N. Gibbs officiating. Burial will follow in the Santa Maria Cemetery.
Visitations will be on Wednesday from 4:00-7:00 pm at the Dudley-Hoffman Mortuary.
Friends, if they so desire, can make a memorial contribution in Owen's name to the Owen S. Rice Scholarship fund, c/o the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, P.O. Box 3620, Santa Barbara, CA 93130.
Arrangements are under the direction of Dudley-Hoffman Mortuary, Crematory and Memory Gardens.

Dudley-Hoffman
Mortuary & Crematory
(805) 922-8463
www.dudleyhoffmanmortuary.com