Scott: Jody Owens is just what cities need

Jody Owens has lived in Battle Creek for most of her 68 years and has always worked to improve the city. After graduating from Hope College as an English major, she taught English at Athens High School for 40 years.

While there she was also the yearbook adviser and senior adviser. In addition she taught one night per week for 26 years at Lakeview Adult Education.

There were many people who had not been able to finish high school because the Depression or World War II had interrupted their education, and Owens was able to help them earn credits to graduate.

She had a special interest in those people, for her own mother had also had to leave school in her senior year to help work for her family. Her mother went back to Lakeview High School years later, and she graduated at the same time that Owens graduated from Hope College. What a fun party they must have had to celebrate both occasions.

I hear of a number of people who worked for many years and feel as though they don’t need to do any volunteering. Owens certainly doesn’t agree, for she has done lots of volunteering including helping at the Historical Society of Battle Creek for the past four years. She has done a number of talks for the group, including one on the Haskell Orphanage fire in which three children died.

Another topic was the Influenza Epidemic at Camp Custer in 1918. As she told me, almost 500 soldiers died, as well as nearly 100 citizens here in Battle Creek. Other talks included Battle Creek Floods from 1896 to 1947 and Battle Creek Voices from World War II.

In addition, she and Mary Butler, one of Battle Creek’s main historians, taught three sections for the Institute for Learning in Retirement about Famous Battle Creek Murders between 1850 and 1930. One of the most unfortunate ones happened to a Dr. Shipp. A man whom tthe doctor had examined and found fit for service in World War I came back and killed the doctor in his office. He jumped out of the seventh-floor window to his own death soon afterward.

Owens also explained about activities in town that seem to be forgotten these days. One of them was Ladies’ Day, proceeds from which went to help Nichols Hospital (later called Community). Others were a summer homecoming, with the 1913 celebration lasting four days and an 1898 Labor Day celebration with four separate parades.

Sad to say, Owens’ husband Gary died back in 1997 when he was just 46. They had a daughter named Alyson who is a preschool teacher in Comstock and also works at a Migrant Head Start program in Lawton. Alyson has a son, Alex, who is presently stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Owens told me about her younger sister, Jeannie Miralrio, who is the bilingual coordinator for the Battle Creek Public Schools, where she works mostly with Hispanic and Burmese children.

I really enjoyed getting to know Owens and I’m sure there are many people in Athens and here in Battle Creek who admire her and are very glad that she is in good health and is still choosing to do a lot of valuable volunteering.