TARRANT COUNTY, TX - OBITUARY Herbert A. Owens 1995 **************************************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: "Lilly Engleman" © Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm **************************************************************************** Fort Worth Star Telegram, 3-11-1995 Herbert A. Owens, 89, a retired Fort Worth fire chief, died Thursday at a retirement center. Funeral: 1:30 p.m. today at Polytechnic United Methodist Church. Burial, Moore Memorial Gardens in Arlington. Arrangements, Moore Funeral Home in Arlington. Mr. Owens was born in Fort Worth and had lived in Fort Worth for 87 years. He rose through the ranks to become the city's top firefighter and was known for being on the scene when the Fire Department was in action. Mr. Owens, a standout athlete at Diamond Hill High School, was a minor league pitcher and won a tryout with the Fort Worth Cats, a son said. He held several track and field records at school. Phil Record, special assistant to the publisher and ombudsman of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram who was a reporter for the newspaper when Mr. Owens was fire chief, said: "Chief Owens was always on the scene of an extra-alarm fire. He was a real take-charge fire chief. And he was always very helpful to the reporters on the scene. Of course, he would almost kill us while helping us. He would insist that we follow him into an inferno so we could see for ourselves how bad a fire was. The smoke would set my lungs on fire. I think the chief was really trying to show us what those firefighters had to go through fighting a big fire. He was successful." Memorials: A charity of the donor's choice. Suvivors: Sons, Herbert A. Owens Jr. of Fort Worth, a retired Star-Telegram news editor; and Herschel B. Owens of Fort Worth; five grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.