Fannie Owen

Fannie Lee Owen, 87, of Chattanooga, died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday, March 2, 2013 in her home in Ferger Place due to complications from a stroke she suffered two weeks ago. She was known for her kind disposition and loving ways throughout her life.She was born Fannie Lee Jolly on Jan. 29, 1926 in Tullahoma, Tenn., to James and Mittie Dee Jolly. At the age of 15, she married Albert A. Crowe. The couple had five children together. In 1964, Albert was killed by a drunk driver. Some years later, she married Riley Owen. Together, they took care of her mother and father until their deaths. Riley Owen died in 1975. For a number of years, Mrs. Owen tended to the elderly in their homes. She retired from this work in 1982 and moved in with her eldest son, Naman Crowe, and his wife at the time, Pat Wilcox. For a period of time, she worked as a cleaning lady for Erlanger Hospital until she was struck by a van as she crossed the street in the pedestrian walkway. She wasn't seriously injured, but it ended her working career. Mrs. Owen suffered a stroke in 2005 and has been a client of the PACE program of the Alexian Brothers in Chattanooga since, spending her days at PACE and her nights at home with her family, which for the past two years has included Naman's wife, Carol Lewis Crowe, who has been her major caregiver along with Mr. Crowe. To support her children, she went to work for the old Peerless Woolen Mills in 1953 and stayed until they were bought out in the early 1960s. She worked in the lab, testing parachute material for Kenyon Southern until her retirement in the 1970s.In addition to her son and daughter-in-law, Mrs. Owen is survived by her son, Albert Lee Crowe and his wife, Darrene; daughters, Carnella Cunningham, Emenda Crowe, & Theora Guest and son-in-law, Marty Guest; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Helen and John Scott, of Daytona Beach; brother-in-law, Donald Crowe, of Atlanta; her former daughter-in-law, Pat Wilcox; nine grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the South Crest Chapel with Dalton and Glenda Roberts officiating.Burial will follow in Lakewood Memory Gardens, South.To share expressions of sympathy, visit her online guestbook at lane-southcrestchapel.com.The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. today and from 1 p.m. until the funeral hour Wednesday at the South Crest Chapel of Lane Funeral Home & Crematory, Rossville.