Our region lost a man of stature recently, a man who tried to
make the lives of people here better. Dr. TJ Owens, former Dean of
Students at Gavilan College was not just an educator.
Editor,
Our region lost a man of stature recently, a man who tried to make the lives of people here better. Dr. TJ Owens, former Dean of Students at Gavilan College was not just an educator. He was a civil rights champion, the president of the Gilroy School Board and, for four decades from San Jose to Salinas, Dr. Owens inspired, coached, cajoled, and in a few cases even rescued young people. He was legendary for his style as well as his smile.
In the late 1960s, Dr. Owens co-founded our valley’s first chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His boost to the rightful struggle for human rights then was one of his great achievements. When he was younger and throughout his life, Dr. Owens, admired another African-American leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who once said: “Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”
It was in this spirit that local Democrats recently sponsored a bipartisan community ceremony to honor young people that are giving back in unprecedented ways here. From a scholar athlete donating his time to cancer survivors to a former gang member striving to do good in a world not always given to goodness, 10 young people were recognized at the Gilroy Hilton with Congressional citations and legislative proclamations.
Young honorees serve to remind us that civil activism and community involvement brings forth leadership and occasionally allows for the possibility of greatness – promises for our future just as we say farewell to someone great from our past.
To our most recent young honorees, we encourage you each to recall proudly the acknowledgements you received. Try to seek out fair and honest mentors and learn from their experiences so that you will not have to call the mistakes that they made your own. Then lead others because anybody can be great and anybody can serve. Courage plus new ideas equals leadership. As we progress toward our future, may we remember to remain strong, humble and remember Dr. TJ Owens and all of the other great people in this place that make it our home.
Brittany Bach, Morgan Hill
