Neil OWENS Obituary

Neil Douglas Owens returned to his heavenly home on April 26, 2021, where he was surely greeted with love by his wife Vivian, stepchild JJ, and many family, friends, and pets who preceded him there. Neil was born in Spokane, Washington, on February 8, 1933, to his parents Sue and Luther Dewey Owens, their only child. He was a farm boy at heart and always loved to be planting future food or raising animals or working on equipment at their home in Colville. They moved to Spokane when he was ten. He played football at West Valley High School. Right after high school, he went to work for the Hy-grade meat packing plant in Spokane. He married young and had three boys by the time he was twenty-four. He then met Vivian when he stopped by the Economy gas station on his way home from work one summer day in 1960. They struck up a conversation and a romance which shortly thereafter led him to tell her, "My housekeeper just gave me her two-week notice – want to get married?" She laughed at his romantic approach, then said yes. Folks thought they were crazy as Vivian had four kids – along with his three, but they did it anyway. Three years later they had another to round out the kid count to a lucky eight. They were married for nearly fifty-nine years until Vivian returned home to God on August 10, 2019.

In the spring of 1966, he came home one day pulling a CAT and started digging out the side of the hill next to the house. The county was covering up the large irrigation canals, which meant the kids' favorite swimming hole would soon disappear along with a kid or two when those young fish in human form decided the river was just too inviting to ignore. So he decided to build a pool. By hand. His design, of course. It took all that Summer and the next Spring, but by 1967 it was filled and could hold water for fifty-two years until the last pool party in 2017.

Now that the pool was built and the kids were safer, and always wanting to be his own boss, Neil decided to start a custom butcher business. He and Vivian teamed up and operated "Neil's Custom Meats" from 1967 until they retired in 1995. He was the creative energy while she was the manager who kept his vision working. They both had tremendous physical strength and endurance.

Neil was a devoted inventor who constantly created new devices and methods of making his ideas come to life. He was curious about how things worked mechanically, but also how nature worked and was a long-time gardener. He also spent many a fine day drifting along the water trying to entice fish to bite his tasty lures. Neil had a wide circle of friends he often shared coffee with early in the morning, sometimes dropping in on more than one "coffee klatch" as he started his new day of exploring life. During these conversations the topic of Bigfoot would sometimes crop-up, and he would tell the tale of being on a fishing trip at Lake Koocanusa in Northwest Montana and heard the wildest sounds coming from some large creature outside the cabin. He got in trouble with the game warden for placing cameras on trees trying to capture images of the elusive creature he was convinced he heard that spooky night in the north woods. His sense of humor and endless parade of projects will be missed forever. We just say he's "gone fishin". Neil is survived with love by his sons Chris, Randy, Craig, and Dan, as well as stepchildren Steve, Lynne, Nanette, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at Heritage Funeral Home on Saturday, June 25th at 3 PM.