Swaim Funeral Home

Owen B. Abbey died at the age of 81 on January 22, 2014 in Richland, Washington. Owen lived a full life and will be fondly remembered by all. Owen Brent Abbey was born on March 20, 1932, in Cimarron, Kansas to Norman J. and Thula R. (Sharp) Abbey. He spent his younger years in Dodge City, Kansas, where he graduated from high School.

He left Dodge City when he joined the U.S. navy in 1950 and served on the USS Prairie AD-15, a 530 foot destroyer tender during the Korean War. Owen was honorably discharged in 1953. After returning from the navy to Dodge City, he courted Nevada (Lois) Page in his 1952 Jaguar XK120 and was clearly very proud of both. Owen enjoyed motorcycling with the local Harley and Indian Motorcycle Club and helped build a dirt racetrack, complete with a control tower. His early interests in mechanical hobbies and his experience of Consolidated Vultee Corporation which later was renamed the Convair Division, after being purchased by General Dynamics. Owen then chose to live in San Diego, where he and Lois were married in Ocean Beach in a small church that Owen and several other sailors actually helped build while in the navy. They soon settled in Pacific Beach and had two daughters who were both born in Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, CA. During the time at Convair, Owen was involved in the F102 and F106 fighter aircraft, the B58 bomber, and the commercial passenger jet, the Convair 880. In 1960 he transferred the Convair Astronautics Division and worked with the Atlas ICBM Missile Program. With the Atlas program, Owen helped establish an optical tooling program and helped install nine launch sites around Topeka, Kansas. Owen and Lois eventually moved to Vandenberg Air Force Base and bought a house in Lompoc, CA. During those years, he worked with the optical needs of 18 missile launches. With Atlas winding program winding down in 1965, he worked temporarily with the oil industry under Philips Oil Company on offshore oilrigs and then received an offer from Pacific Northwest Laboratories in Richland, WA. At the Pacific Northwest Laboratories (PNL), Owen worked in the Atmospheric Sciences Department on numerous programs until he retired in 1994. With such strong work ethic, Owen was not one to stay idle at home and soon began working part time for Hiline Engineering of Richland, WA. His quality of work was much appreciated at Hiline where he worked for many more years until finally retiring from the workforce for good. During his 29 year career at PNL, he worked on Project Mountain Iron, a tracer and diffusion study at his old base in Vandenberg, CA. This was a study to determine the direction and concentrations of plumes emanating from missile and rocket launches. On Project Plow Share, the use of nuclear devices for construction, Owen was involved in instrumentation to study the downwind plumes if "construction" explosions from 1.1 to 105 kilotons, blasts that could move 12 million tons of dirt at time. In 1969 he was involved with the study of meteorological conditions and their effects on VSTOL aircraft using a series of towers to obtain measurements, a study funded by Power Administration to determine the end uses of electricity in 1100 homes and businesses across the Norwest and he had a perfect record for field site maintenance visits. Throughout his distinguished career, Owen applied skills and knowledge to every project on which he worked. Those who knew him well were delighted to have him on their team. Scientists and engineers at PNL were always keen to recruit Owen to their projects, knowing that his work would be done correctly. His work was completed with the highest degree or quality and was always on time and under budget. Owen was always humble about his contributions, but his work has long lasting impacts on countless projects across a broad spectrum from nuclear power, atmospheric studied, wind energy, and other scientific research activities. At home he was an accomplished hobbyist, building his own cabinets, wet bar and a grandfather clock, just to name a few. Owen loved a challenge. After having built a spinning wheel, for example, he used a dead cherry tree for the lumber to hand build yet another working spinning wheel. In a spare bedroom, Owen built a museum quality scale model of a house that he rented on Topeka, complete with working windows, doors, lights, and furnishings, all from memory and a photograph. Owen was always a "can do" person. If he said he could, he would. He will be remembered for gracious hospitality, characteristic smile, and his delightful chuckle. Owen has three brothers, Carol G. Abbey (deceased, Dodge City, KS); Gerald D. Abbey (Albuquerque, NM) Thayne A. Abbey (Dodge City, KS). Owen and Lois Abbey recently celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary. Owen is survived by his two daughters. He is also survived his five grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren all of whom are a tribute to a man who was a loving father, grandfather and husband. He will be buried in Dodge City, Kansas, completing his circle of life. He will be greatly missed by his wife, and all his friends and family. Military rites by Howard Gotschall Post #1714, V.F.W. and KSARNG will be 1:00 P.M. Thursday, February 6, 2014 at Swaim Funeral Home, Dodge City Followed by Masonic rites by St. Bernard Lodge #222 AF&AM. Published by Swaim Funeral Home, Dodge City, Kansas.