K. Shane Owens

February 28, 1968 ~ May 25, 2008

K. Shane Owens, age 40, was tragically taken from this earth in a plane crash on May 25, 2008. He was born February 28, 1968, the only child of Dianne Painter and Kermie Owens.

Shane was well loved and well known everywhere he went and made the best of any situation he was in.

He grew up in southwestern Colorado, helping his Mom on a ranch and eventually moving to Blanding, UT to attend high school at San Juan High.

If you asked Shane how long he was in Blanding, his reply would be, “Long enough to get a bad reputation.”

Shane moved to Payson, AZ where he lived at the time of his death.

Shane started Tree Pro in 1997 and sold it to begin new ventures in 2005. Although Tree Pro was his business, it also became Shane’s way of helping the community; from rescuing cats out of a tree to donating beautifully carved benches to the Payson Library.

Shane married Angie Martinez in 2001, and although they eventually divorced, they remained great friends and she credits him with pushing her to follow her dreams.

Shane lived with his Grandmother Hazel Owens for the last three years, and because of his strained relationship with his real mother, Hazel, as she would say, was his “mama”.

Shane loved to tease Hazel, and Hazel loved to give it right back. They were quite a pair.

Shane also loved animals, especially his dogs. When he died, he had his new puppy Leroy with him, who also had many adventures in his short four months of life because Shane took him everywhere.

His other constant companion was Wiley, his red Queensland Heeler, who was helping to teach Leroy that the carpet was not a bathroom.

Always mischievous and endearingly crazy, Shane was known far and wide for his horrible driving and many rolled vehicles. One entry in his journal stated he had just rolled another Jeep right before Christmas 1987 and he had written “another year, another vehicle. Maybe I should start to take driving seriously”.

Although he was always up to something that may get him in trouble somehow, his huge smile and his gentle demeanor eventually always got him out of any debacle that he managed to get himself into.

Many of those debacles were shared with his best friends in the world, Robby Jones and Shelby Seely, as well as countless good friends from Payson. All of whom he admired and loved immensely.

Shane died doing what he absolutely loved – flying. He was always in a hurry and loved to go fast, and he could do both in his planes.

The following is a poem by Raylene Phillips about Shane.

The Legend of a Man Named SHANE

The closest thing to a real life super hero was a man named Shane.

His lust for life and care free spirit is how he attained his fame.

We have all been affected, we have all been touched

By this man who LIVED his life so much.

When coming out of a restaurant, and your trucks been moved across the street,

That, of course, was Shane’s particular way of being sweet.

At least you new, that the man really cared

When your car won’t back up, and you get all scared.

Only to find that Shane had been inspired,

To put a gigantic rock behind your tire.

Legend has it, he could pee with the best

All the way over the Tree Pro sign, it’s been confessed.

A lover not a fighter, just when you think the fists would fly,

He’d take hold of both ears, and plant a kiss right on that guy.

It was his spirit, his light, the energy that was him

Those made most other people seem so dim.

Shane had MANY good stories, and MANY good friends

Friends he could count on and they could count on him.

He was fast, he was fun, you always knew he was there.

He was up for any challenge, and would take any dare.

One of his big loves was animals, he loved them all.

He’d bring home the injured from the time he was small.

He would nurse them to health, like mother knows best.

The chipmunks, the night hawks, and all of the rest

Like all of us here would not be the same,

If we never knew the legend of a man named Shane.

Need anyone ask? We all know it’s true

Shane lived and lived and lived until he was through.

Shane’s motto was simply this: LIVING – There’s nothing else worth dying for.

Shane is survived by his Grandmother Hazel Owens, Father Kermeth Owens, Mother Dianne Painter, Brother Rick Pew, Sister Pamela Weddle, Girlfriend Summer Wojcik, Wiley Dog, and countless family and friends in Payson and Blanding.

A memorial for Shane was held at the Payson, AZ airport on Saturday, May 31.

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