Maria DeMoss Troutman, Schopp, Germany, March 26, 1997, Union Co.
troutman@snoopy.bunt.com

Hubbie Lee Owens, of  Union County, KY, was born April 29, 1906 in Union 
County, Ky to Baird Waldon Owens and Elsie Melinda (Sigler) Owens of 
Union County, KY.   He attended Grangertown Baptist Church in 
Grangertown, Union County, KY and taught the Young Men's Sunday School 
class there.  He farmed with his father as a child, and later as an 
adult became an auto mechanic as well as being a John Deere tractor 
mechanic.  He was known around the county as the John Deere man, even as 
late as 1978, there were still a few farmers with older model tractors 
calling him for help, after he had retired.  On March 12, 1927 he 
married Clantha J. Hopper, who died in 1930, two weeks after the birth 
of their 2nd stillborn son.  From 1930 until about 1940 he worked here 
and there, sometimes ending up in Kansas to help with wheat thrashing.  
He also worked briefly in the coal mines.  On April 10, 1942 in 
Charleston, Mississippi County, MO he married Lillie Evelyn Hazel 
b. June 13. 1924, daughter of Hiram Truman Hazel and Bessie Lee 
(Hinton) Hazel of Union County, KY. 

Hubbie was in the Army during World War II and was a butcher in Orlando, 
FL. He received his training at Scott Field in Illinois.  His wife 
worked at the AP stores then, and when a chance came up for a better 
apartment, would move them, while he was at work, and then pick him 
from work to take him home to the "new" house.  After his enlistment 
was up, he returned to Union County, KY to become and auto mechanic 
and the "John Deere Man".  Together in Union County, KY they raised 
two children, Anna Lee and William Earl Owens.  He has given his old 
John Deere tractor manuals to his son William Earl, who is now the 
"John Deere Man", as he restores antique John Deere tractors and shows 
them in parades.

Hubbie resided for many years in Dekoven, Union County, KY, at the end 
of a gravel road called Lizard Ridge Road.  He enjoyed hunting in the 
woods that surrounded his house, and fishing nearby, always providing 
plenty of fish to fry.  He enjoyed napping outside in a lounge chair 
under the large shade trees, as well as always planting and keeping weed 
free two gardens at his house.  Around 1989 they sold the home and moved 
to town, Sturgis, KY.  There they resided together until his wife died 
of leukemia in Jan. 1996. 

Hubbie has seen many changes in his lifetime in today's world.  He has 
lived through World War I, though he was too young to remember it, he 
has seen World War II, the depression, TV, Telephone, the revolution of 
automobiles, etc.  He once told that when the first automobile came to 
Union County, KY, he and one of his brothers walked two miles just to 
see the tracks left by it in the dirt, as they had never seen anything 
like it before. 

Owens Sigler Hopper Hazel Hinton
=
KS Mississippi-MO FL IL

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/union/owens.hl.txt