Betty Jean (Cherry) Owens, 88, of Edmond, Oklahoma, passed away peacefully on Thursday, November 29, 2022 at Infinite Care Home in Edmond. A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, January 21, at 2:00 p.m. at the Mercer-Adams Chapel, in Bethany, Oklahoma. Betty was born December 10, 1933, in Peabody, Kansas, to Louis Lee and Hazel Cherry. Her parents owned a grocery store, Cherrys Cut-Rite, in Peabody where she spent most of her early years. The family was moving to Abilene, Kansas for her father to become a minister at the Church of the Nazarene when he and her sister Irene were involved in a tragic accident. Betty and her mother Hazel completed their move to Abilene where she soon became Aunt Betty. She graduated from Abilene High and after completing college in Bethany she started her teaching career back in Abilene. Betty enjoyed playing the piano, accordion, singing and compiling family genealogy. An insatiable lifelong learner, she attended Bethany Peniel College (now Southern Nazarene University), where Betty earned a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1955. She completed her Master of Arts in Education in 1961 at Bethany Nazarene College/SNU and worked toward her Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Kansas in 1979. Betty was married to Rev. Denny Gene Owens in June of 1958 in Abeline, Kansas and to their union they had three children, Douglas, Ann, and Jane. The couple's first pastorate was at the Church of the Nazarene in Denton, Texas, followed by a second ministerial assignment in Grand Island, Nebraska.The Owenses became missionaries in 1965 for The Church of the Nazarene, serving for over eleven years in the Republic of the Philippines. During Betty's time in the Philippines, she taught at Faith Academy, Manila and the Visayan Nazarene Bible College in Cebu City, Cebu. Other career highlights include various joint ministerial assignments with Denny in California, Colorado, and Oklahoma, a faculty member at the Nazarene Indian Bible College in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher for the Department of Defense at U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in Zambales, Philippines and U.S. Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. After retiring she tutored ESL students and joined the university faculty becoming an adjunct professor at Southern Nazarene University in the English Department. She was preceded in death in 2002 by her spouse of 43 years, Denny; her parents, Louis Lee Cherry and Hazel (Van Meter) Cherry; three sisters, Margie (Cherry) Johnson, Irene Cherry, Mary Rose (Cherry) Monroe; and her daughter, Jane Margaret (Owens) Labastida.She is survived by her children, Douglas Owens of Louisville, Kentucky, and Elizabeth Ann (Owens) Bennington of Edmond, Oklahoma. Also, five grandchildren, Chris Owens, Jordan (Owens) Eads, Patrick Labastida, Victoria Bennington, Lauryl Bennington as well as six great-grandchildren; cousin, Marylou Tomlin of Sheridan, Illinois; numerous nieces, nephews and brother-in-law, Rev. Don Owens of Olathe, Kansas. She also leaves behind extended "family" in the Philippines. Betty and her family request that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Southern Nazarene University for the Denny G. and Betty J. Owens Scholarship Fund (c/o Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW Expressway, Bethany, Oklahoma 73008) or Frontier Hospice, 2782 Washington Drive, Suite 100, Norman, OK 73069. The memorial service will be webcast and will be available to view on this obituary page. . Memorial Service Mercer-Adams Chapel Saturday, January 21, 2023 2:00 PM 3925 N. Asbury Bethany, OK 73008 The service will be webcast and available to view on this obituary page.