Persis M. Owens

Persis M. Owens, formerly of Bonifay, FL, died peacefully in the comfort of her daughter Denise’s home in Norwich, NY, on Friday, January 3, 2025.

Born on September 28, 1924, in DeFuniak Springs, FL, Persis was a daughter of the late Percy Webb Miles and Dora (Pippin) Miles. She spent her childhood years in DeFuniak Springs, FL and graduated from Walton County High School. Persis then attended Florida State College for Women where she received a social work degree. 

Persis would meet her future husband, Arthur Owens, while she was in college and he was in the Army, stationed in Georgia. The two would later marry on January 3, 1945, in Waycross, GA and move to Oswego, NY where they began a family. Persis later received her master’s degree from Syracuse University and became a special education teacher at Lincoln Street School in Waverly, NY until her retirement. 

In 1987, Arthur and Persis relocated to Bonifay, FL where they lived next to a golf course they enjoyed at least daily. She was an avid golfer, bowler, and a great cook. She excelled at anything she put her mind to. Most of all, her faith and her family were everything to her. She was raised a Presbyterian but was a member of the West Bonifay Baptist Church in her later years. To anyone who asked, she credited her deep and abiding faith in God as the reason for her long and happy life.

Persis is survived by her children, Doranne Henson, of Bonifay, FL, David (Donna) Owens, of DeFuniak Springs, FL, and Denise (Dr. Matthew) Reppert, of Norwich, NY; grandchildren, Amy Bennett, Michelle Telech, Miles Gattiker, Kelly Reppert, Corey Reppert, Meghan Scott, Eric Curren, Mikala McDonald, and Brianne Flewelling; several great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. In addition to her siblings, she was predeceased by her husband, Arthur, in 2002, her daughter, Donna Gattiker, in 2011 and granddaughter, Brenda. 

A Norwich memorial service for Persis will be held at the Wilson Funeral Home, in Norwich, on Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., officiated by Pastor David Mayo. A memorial service will also occur in the West Bonifay Baptist Church at a later date. Burial will occur in Magnolia Cemetery, in DeFuniak Springs, FL.

Contributions in Persis’s memory may be made to the West Bonifay Baptist Church, 609 W. Indiana Ave., Bonifay, FL 32425-1934.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted with the Wilson Funeral. Home.