William Owens, Deceased June 21, 2013

Posted on meaningfulfunerals.net:

Bill Owens (David William Graham Owens) passed away peacefully on Friday June 21, 2013. Bill, of St Simons Island, is survived by his wife of 43 years, Elizabeth Owens, his children Graham Owens and Sarah (Owens) Jarvis, his grandchildren Arthur Owens (5 months), Beatrice Jarvis (6), Elizabeth Jarvis (3), and Henry Jarvis (11 months); his sister Judy Owens Earl and nieces DeeDee Scharf and Christy Davis. He is predeceased by his mother, Mimi Owens; his father, John Owens; and his brother John Owens, who passed away in March of this year, also of cancer.

Born in Miami, Florida in 1946, Bill grew up in Atlanta, across the street from Elizabeth Baxter, his 5th grade sweetheart and first girl he ever kissed; they married in 1969 and then moved to New Haven together where he finished his last year at Yale University, majoring in English. In 1974 they moved to Inman Park in Atlanta and became part of the early urban pioneers in the renovation of downtown Atlanta; they moved to St Simons Island in 1995.

Music was Bill’s passion; he was a prolific songwriter and consummate musician. He taught himself to play the guitar, a gift from his beloved mother, at just 10 years old. He met Keenan Carter in 1982 and became one half of the successful duo Ziggy Mahoney; they played over 3,000 nights together. For those that remember those nights, they will remember Bill as an amazing guitar and banjo player, and singer. An aficionado of all good music, Bill loved everything from Bach to Jimmy Buffet. He could wax long about the merits of cat gut strings to carol music from the 16th century; he became so proficient on the guitar that to relax at home, he played classical music on the guitar. His family misses hearing his guitar and his voice.

Bill was also an erudite scholar and purveyor of the esoteric; he was a true man of letters who loved knowledge and learning, as well as the proper use of semi-colons. Bill thoroughly enjoyed discussing all of life’s subjects from politics to music to polemics to movies to the Falcons and Braves. Those who conversed with him often left feeling enlightened; most also had a least one or two words to look up in the dictionary later.

Bill will be remembered for his music, his wit and intelligence, his passion for knowledge and good causes, his complete inability to get anywhere on time, and his devotion to his wife, Elizabeth. His love for his wife was written into many of his songs and was part of who he was.

Bill died as he lived, peacefully and surrounded by love. He died at home with his family by his side, a true circle of life with his grandsons, children and wife holding his hands and talking with him throughout his passing. It was a special and beautiful moment.

The family will hold a celebration of Bill’s life on Sunday June 30th starting at 2pm in their home. All those that loved Bill are invited. In lieu of flowers, please donate in memory of Bill Owens to Hospice of the Golden Isles, 1692 Glynco Pkwy, Brunswick, GA 31525.

Low Country Cremation Society is serving the Owens family.

Posted on the myAJC site on June 29, 2013:
Bill Owens took up the guitar at age 10, and it became a lifelong part of him.
Self-taught, he started a band that played at sock hops at Dykes High School in Buckhead. As a Yale University graduate, he performed at nightspots in New Haven, Conn. Returning to Atlanta, he tried an advertising job but gave it up to work at clubs and hone his skill as a performer.

His wife, Elizabeth Owens, said friends and family would ask him, “When are you going to get a real job?” Eventually, entertaining audiences became not only his real job but a career of more than 30 years.

David William Graham Owens, 66, died Friday at his St. Simons Island home of esophageal cancer. His family plans a celebration of his life at his home at 2 p.m. Sunday. Low Country Cremation Society is in charge of arrangements.

Owens had a solo act for a time and performed at several Atlanta nightclubs — Penrod’s, the Lark and the Dove, the Great Southeast Music Hall — and in 1982 he joined with singer Keenan Carter in forming a duo they named Ziggy Mahoney.

“We picked that name for our act and for the club we established on St. Simons Island because it was more intriguing than any combination of our own names,” Carter said.

The pair first played at clubs along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts, but occasionally in New York City and Bermuda. They also performed in Atlanta at Banks & Shane’s and the Peachtree Plaza’s sports bar.

In 1994 they opened Ziggy Mahoney’s on St. Simons Island, and they built a following there, performing together more than 3,000 times.

“Our act was about 50 percent what we call Carolina beach music, the kind that people can shag to,” Carter said. “We’d mix in some folk, bluegrass and popular favorites, and Bill was equally adept at classical guitar.”

As part of the act, they did skits. “Bill’s impression of Willie Nelson was so spot-on you could close your eyes and be convinced (Nelson) was in the same room,” Carter said.

Another St. Simons entertainer, Tony Baker, said Owens was a masterful guitar player who had a feel for the appropriate ambience for each song. Owens also was an excellent backup singer who harmonized well with singers carrying the melody, Baker said.

Owens earned a degree in English and was well-versed in Shakespeare, often reciting lines from the bard’s plays.

One of Owens’ fraternity friends was George W. Bush, Carter said, but Bush’s politics later rubbed Owens the wrong way. A firm Democrat, Owens worked in Jimmy Carter’s 1980 re-election campaign and even wrote a song for it, “Give Me Carter One More Time.” His wife said Owens accepted an invitation to a White House barbecue during Carter’s time there.

During their time in Atlanta, the Owenses became part of the urban pioneer movement in Inman Park in the mid-1970s, and went on to live there nearly 20 years.

“Bill got to be good at several rehab tasks and pitched in to help his neighbors fix their homes,” said a longtime friend, Tom Spurlin of Atlanta. “He also started the Waddell Street Film Society, showing classic old movies in the Owens backyard for evenings of inexpensive entertainment for his family and neighbors.”

Also surviving are a daughter, Sarah Jarvis of Berkeley, Calif.; a son, Graham Owens of St. Simons Island; a sister, Judy Earl of Alpharetta; and four grandchildren.

Class Notes: Your scribe wrote this column while listening to Bill Owens’s “Round and Round” track on his Wildflower Bouquet CD with Missile Records. Here is his music life story from the website https://www.musicpage.com/billowens: “Singer-songwriter and guitarist for over 59 years, I have signed a record contract with Missile Records, and have just released “Round And Round,” the new single from my first album, Wildflower Bouquet, which I recorded at Merit Studios on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and by age 12 was playing for pay in bands and folk trios all around Buckhead and north Atlanta. I was in the Atlanta Boys Choir, and at 14 appeared with my trio on WSB-TV’s Today in Georgia.

“I graduated from Yale in 1970, then returned to Atlanta to start my music career in earnest. I headlined in Bermuda at the Cock & Feather Pub two summers running, at Banks & Shane’s in north Atlanta, at Callaway Gardens, the Great Southeast Music Hall, the Atlanta High Museum as artist in residence, Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head, Sea Palms on Saint Simons Island, and The Cloister on Sea Island.

“Television station WETV Channel 30 in Atlanta tapped me in 1975 to star in two half-hour performance broadcasts, Bill Owens and Bill Owens and Friends. In 1980 I worked as creative director for Taylor-Owens Advertising in Atlanta, where I created, wrote, performed, and voiced a hit radio campaign for Stihl Chain Saws (featuring ‘Sonny & Bubba’), which saw Stihl’s market share in Georgia rise from 8 percent to 46 percent in a span of six months.

“Currently a solo performer and lead guitarist for St. Simons’ popular band, The Stringrays, I was half the wildly popular duo Ziggy Mahoney, which wowed southeastern and coastal audiences for over 20 years. I have appeared on television, in clubs, and on concert stages for most of my adult life, opening for Jerry Clower, Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass, and the Kingston Trio, among others.”

Bill passed away peacefully on June 21, 2013, at home, with his family. “Bill will be remembered for his music, his wit and intelligence, his passion for knowledge and good causes, his complete inability to get anywhere on time, and his devotion to his wife Elizabeth” (from the Atlanta Journal Constitution). I recommend going to his website and listening to his song.

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