John Owen

1929 - 2014

John Owen

John Lawrence Owen, 85, former Sports Editor of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, died October 3, 2014, surrounded by his family at home in Edmonds.

John was born in Helena, Mt., in 1929. He graduated from Great Falls High School in 1947 and received a BA in Journalism at the University of Montana in 1951. That same year John married Alice Kesler, also a journalism student at the UM, and in 2014 they celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary.

During the Korean War, John served as a military cryptographer in the Army Signal Corps.

John served as sports editor of the Bismarck Tribune, as wire editor at the Yakima Herald and was hired by The Post-Intelligencer in 1957 where he served as assistant sports editor and, in 1968, became sports editor. John was named Sportswriter of the Year for the state of Washington in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1985 and 1988 by the National Sportswriter and Sportscaster Association. Three of his columns were published in the national anthology, Best Sports Stories of the Year. His columns chronicled the formation of the Seattle Pilots, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sonics and the original Seattle Sounders. John was the author of over 50 articles for national magazines. After his retirement from the Post-Intelligencer he wrote columns for the weekly Edmonds Beacon, writing his last column in June of this year.

In addition to his sports columns, Owen wrote a weekly Intermediate Eater humorous cooking column for The P-I. He published nine books on sports, travel and food. His wife Alice, a Northwest artist, illustrated four of his books.

John covered six Olympiads for the Post-Intelligencer and several Super Bowls, World Series, and championship boxing matches including the Muhammad Ali-George Foreman Rumble in the Jungle in the Congo.

John is survived by his wife, Alice; his son, David and daughter, Kathy(Greg Relaford); grandchildren Rosalyn, Sarah and great grandchildren Connor and Tyler.

A celebration of John's life will be held Nov. 21, 2 pm, at Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church, 8109 224th St. SW, Edmonds, Wa. Remembrances can be made to Doctors Without Borders or the charity of your choice.