Susan Owen

It is with sadness that we mark the passing of Susan Owen on September 29, 2024 after a sudden illness. Susan was born in Riverside, CA on Oct 27, 1953, the beloved daughter of Jackie and Bill Owen of Worthington, Ohio. She graduated from Princeton University with high honors in Religion before earning a Doctorate from the University of Virginia in religious studies, with a concentration in ethics. She was ordained to the ministry by the United Church of Christ and wore many hats through the years, including a parish minister, an adjunct assistant professor at Quinnipiac and Southern Connecticut State Universities, a health care ethicist with the Veteran's Administration National Center for Ethics in Health Care, and a lecturer on medical ethics at the Yale Divinity School. She worked with veterans and others who live with brain injuries and initiated and co-developed Hope House, a pilot transitional living facility for persons reintegrating into the community after suffering from traumatic brain injuries. As this array of commitments makes clear, Susan was a dynamic force with a strong sense of mission and vocation. She is survived by her daughter Jacqueline Outka (Abuzer Rafey); sister Ann North, and nephews David North (Lorin Wolf) and Mark North (Lindsay). She was predeceased by her brother David Owen and former husband, Gene Outka. Susan once said "When I counsel people focus a lot on the reassurance that one hopes certain things will be so-and on the fact that the hope can have its own reality". In that spirit, we as her family and friends hope for her peaceful rest and honor her memory. A graveside service will be held on Thursday October 10, 2024 at 1:00pm at the Walnut Grove Cemetery in Worthington, Ohio with Rev. Tim Ahrens officiating. A public Memorial Celebration will be held at the Mount Carmel Congregational Church in Hamden, CT. Donations may be made to Smile Train, Kobacker House in Cols OH, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. For anyone who would like to send flowers, tulips and easter lilies were some of her favorites. RUTHERFORD-CORBIN FUNERAL HOME in charge of arrangements.

Susan Owen

October 27, 1953 - September 29, 2024