I wanted to take some time and say a few words about Owen King, who passed away last Monday at the age of 101. I first meet Owen when I was about 12 and he was courting my grandmother, which seemed to consist of a lot of mall walking. They married in 1994 and he became my 'step grandfather', the two were together for 20 years until my grandmothers passing in 2014.

One of the things that impressed me about Owen was his vitality. I remember playing volleyball with him in his mid-80's. When he was 89 he made a medicine cabinet thing out of wood, something I couldn't do even today. Owen did his own taxes until he was 95, and was still speaking in church at the age of 99.

Owen couldn't always hear that well and was a polite man of his generation so he generally let my grandmother speak for them, so it wasn't until after her death that I found out he in fact had a rather dry sense of humor. When speaking to him in 2015 about his then preference for the Republican presidential nomination, Texas senator Ted Cruz, I expressed one of the problems I had with Mr. Cruz was that I didn't think he could work well with Democrats. "But that's what I want", Owen replied. It was hard to argue with his logic.

Right around the time he turned 100 Owen's generally impressive health took a turn and he found himself largely confided to his bed. When visiting him with family in 2017 my cousin Heidi asked him if he was keeping busy. Owen replied, "I can't think of anything I have to do", then paused  two beats for effect, "I can't think of anything I can do." Owen did find things to do however, he read the Bible clean through at the age of 100.

I learned new things about Owen at his funeral yesterday. I had somehow come away with the impression that Owen served state side during World War II, when in fact he was in the pacific theater. A transport Owen was on was sunk by the Japanese, but he managed to escape. Owen beat cancer twice before I knew him, and once had then LDS apostle and later Church president Spencer W. Kimball in his home. I was already aware that one of his grandsons was the late Cy Young Award winning pitcher Roy Halladay. Owen was an impressive man and I'm glad I knew him.

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