Obituary of Nancy Lou Owens

Nancy Lou Owens, 71, of Colorado Springs, Colorado passed away on November 30, 2023.

She was born Nancy Lou Brons on September 11, 1952, in Worthington, Minnesota. Her early years were spent growing up in Iowa as the second eldest in a family with a total of six siblings. As she grew up, she made her way out of Iowa to attend Airline Stewardess school, however, at graduation there happened to coincide a huge airline strike and so the government swooped in to divide up and hire the graduating class, and Nancy found her way into government life working at the Pentagon in DC.

Attending a party in the DC area in early March 1973 she met her future husband James Willard Owens Jr. (aka Jim or Big Jim). Jim was easy to spot as he was six feet and six inches tall, which was quite a contrast to Nancy’s five feet and five inches. As the evening progressed, they met and immediately found a very comfortable rapport, one in which they apparently found themselves easily finishing each other’s sentences. This began their whirlwind romance where they began planning marriage and saw each other every day. When they were not together, they were speaking on the phone and discovered they were having great difficulty being apart. They quickly determined that they were either going to have to push the planned wedding up or move in together. They opted for a faster wedding. She always loved to tell this story and the way she always finished it was to say, “we met on the 10th of March and got married on the 5th of April”.

Computers were Jim’s field of work and after a while Nancy realized that she really was not understanding enough about computer programing to be able to converse with her husband about it, but really wanted to as it sounded very interesting. So, while she taught others their GED she also enrolled in college at

The University of Oklahoma (OU) and graduated and then began her own career in computers.

It didn’t take them too long to begin trying for children. There were some medical difficulties, but the Lord heard their prayers, and they were finally blessed with the birth of their only child and daughter Elizabeth Alexandra Owens (aka Liz) on October 21, 1979. Nancy stayed active in her daughter’s life by being a softball coach for several years. She also volunteered as Girl Scouts Troop Leader, Co-Troop Leader, Service Unit Leader, and finally was on the Advisory Board. In fact, she stayed very active in Girl Scouts even after Liz completed the top senior level.

The new family trio then had twelve wonderful long years together before Jim was sadly taken away from them by liver cancer. Nancy and Liz had early on become best friends, even before being mother and daughter, and they spent the next 31 years maintaining that extreme closeness. Nancy always had a very angelic and loving way about her and during her daughter’s high school years this became even more prevalent as even her daughter’s friends would refer to her as “Momma Nancy”.

Nancy was also known for volunteering in so many ways. Through church she regularly served food at a local homeless shelter, co-ran the twice a year Children’s Consignment Sale event with her daughter for several years, and was highly involved in the vast behind the scenes local volunteer theatre network. Most well known for her skill with lights as the Lighting Designer for many shows, often working alongside with her daughter in that role together or as a team for Lighting Designers or Lighting Designer and Master Electrician.

In Nancy’s retirement she and her daughter both sold their separate houses to buy and build a house in Colorado together where they could both live. Another thing they shared was the same favorite color of lavender. Nancy loved their new home and enjoyed several lovely vacations with her daughter including her final delightful cruise to Hawaii. Shortly after they returned home Nancy passed on and reunited with her patiently waiting and loving husband.

Nancy was preceded in death by her father Henry Brons, her brother Steven Brons, her nephew Michael Williams, and her husband James W. Owens Jr.

Nancy is survived by her mother Betty J. Schmidt and by her siblings Douglas Brons, Avis Rinsem, Janice Williams, and Brenda Martin. She is also survived by several Nieces and Nephews and lots of cousins

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