Entering the Lynnwood home where April Owens lived is like stepping into fairyland.
Really.
She made fairies, collected dolls, dragons and sprites, painted, and made beaded jewelry. Her work and collections cut an all-encompasing, fantastical swath through every room in her home.
“She loved fairies,” said her husband, Howard J. “Duffy” Owens. “She believed in fairies.”
April Louise Owens, who had cancer, died Oct. 19 of a urinary tract infection.
She met her husband at Shoreline Community College in 1970. They were both on the student council.
“I dropped a pencil,” Owens said. “I looked up into her eyes and that was it.”
He proposed seven days later and they were married in three months.
They shared their passion for saving animals, creating a sanctuary in their back yard. They offered a haven for their son’s friends who needed a place to stay. His wife “adopted” her husband’s Native American heritage.
She was born April Louise Clarkson on Feb. 7, 1950, in Seattle. Her family moved all over the world, traveling with her father, a U.S. Marine and later a helicopter pilot for Air America.
She attended high school for three years at the International School of Bangkok in Thailand and then returned to Seattle, where she graduated from Shoreline High School in 1969.
April Owens is survived by her husband; her father, Vernon H. Clarkson, of Thorp; her sister, Melinda Clarkson, of Las Vegas; sons Scott and Greggory Owens; and granddaughter, Samantha Apryl Owens of Seattle.
Her interests were eclectic. She loved science fiction and fantasy and was instrumental in the beginning of Norwescon and RustyCon, two Northwest science fiction and fantasy conventions, Owens said.
She was a costume designer, writer and an ethnic dancer with The Companions of the Musivere.
“She was a very attentive grandmother to Sammi, who enjoyed working on crafts and jewelry with her grandma,” Duffy Owens said. “She raised lovebirds and finches for many years until her illness made it hard for her.”
Friend Carole Smythe said April Owens worked on her crafts at night. She made her beautiful jewelry for her birthday.
“She exchanged jewelry for fine crystal beads I had that she wanted,” Smythe said. “She knew what each color of rock was on the bracelet and necklace she carefully crafted for me. We never exchanged any money.”
Wealth wasn’t important to her, Smythe said.
“I could tell she was on a different plane from the norm. The dolls, paintings, T-shirt art, bird aviary, jewelry and fairies, literally engulfed you at her house. April was talented. She was truly gifted. I considered her a generous spirit.”
Friends often met to sing karaoke with Duffy and April Owens. Duffy Owens is a Roy Orbison tribute singer.
April Owens loved to wear embellished T-shirts, take long walks, sing to her birds and shop on TV.
She sewed her own wedding dress on a treadle machine.
“She was good at anything creative,” Duffy Owens said.
Reporter Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
