2013-2014 Bill 4271: Isaiah Owens - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 120th Session, 2013-2014 3 4 H. 4271 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 House Resolution 9 Sponsors: Reps. CobbHunter, Alexander, Allison, Anderson, Anthony, Atwater, Bales, Ballentine, 10 Bannister, Barfield, Bedingfield, Bernstein, Bingham, Bowen, Bowers, Branham, Brannon, G.A. Brown, 11 R.L. Brown, Burns, Chumley, Clemmons, Clyburn, Cole, H.A. Crawford, K.R. Crawford, Crosby, 12 Daning, Delleney, Dillard, Douglas, Edge, Erickson, Felder, Finlay, Forrester, Funderburk, Gagnon, 13 Gambrell, George, Gilliard, Goldfinch, Govan, Hamilton, Hardee, Hardwick, Harrell, Hart, Hayes, 14 Henderson, Herbkersman, Hiott, Hixon, Hodges, Horne, Hosey, Howard, Huggins, Jefferson, Kennedy, 15 King, Knight, Limehouse, Loftis, Long, Lowe, Lucas, Mack, McCoy, McEachern, M.S. McLeod, 16 W.J. McLeod, Merrill, Mitchell, D.C. Moss, V.S. Moss, Munnerlyn, Murphy, Nanney, Neal, Newton, 17 Norman, H.L. Ott, Owens, Parks, Patrick, Pitts, Pope, Powers Norrell, Putnam, Quinn, Ridgeway, Riley, 18 Rivers, RobinsonSimpson, Rutherford, Ryhal, Sabb, Sandifer, Sellers, Simrill, Skelton, G.M. Smith, 19 G.R. Smith, J.E. Smith, J.R. Smith, Sottile, Southard, Spires, Stavrinakis, Stringer, Tallon, Taylor, 20 Thayer, Toole, Vick, Weeks, Wells, Whipper, White, Whitmire, Williams, Willis and Wood 21 Document Path: l:\council\bills\gm\29812ab13.docx 22 Companion/Similar bill(s): 761 23 24 Introduced in the House on June 4, 2013 25 Adopted by the House on June 4, 2013 26 27 Summary: Isaiah Owens 28 29 30 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 31 32 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 33 6/4/2013 House Introduced and adopted ( House Journalpage 7) 34 35 36 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 37 38 6/4/2013 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A HOUSE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO RECOGNIZE AND COMMEND ISAIAH OWENS FOR HIS 12 OUTSTANDING SERVICE IN THE MORTUARY 13 PROFESSION FOR FORTYFOUR YEARS AND FOR THE 14 COMPASSION AND KINDNESS HE HAS RENDERED TO HIS 15 COMMUNITY. 16 17 Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of 18 Representatives are pleased to commend Isaiah Owens for his 19 many years of noteworthy contributions to his community; and 20 21 Whereas, born and reared in Branchville, Isaiah Owens was the 22 eighth child of Willie Mae Owens and the late Clifton Owens; and 23 24 Whereas, he received his primary education in the Orangeburg 25 County School District and graduated from Lockett High School; 26 and 27 28 Whereas, intrigued by funerals even at an early age, young Isaiah 29 would regularly hold funerals to bury dead animals on the farm 30 where he lived. The funerals involved hitching a horse and buggy 31 for the funeral cortege and imitating what he observed at various 32 funerals, even preaching the funeral himself; and 33 34 Whereas, his interest in funeral work grew, and in 1969 he 35 graduated from the American Academy McAllister Institute of 36 Funeral Services to become a licensed funeral director. Today he is 37 a master of his craft, managing and owning Isaiah Owens Funeral 38 Services in New York City and Owens Funeral Services in 39 Branchville; and 40 41 Whereas, affectionately known to his friends as The Prophet, Mr. 42 Owens acted on a vision he had when John F. Kennedy, Jr., along

[4271] 2 1 with his wife and her older sister, met his untimely and tragic 2 death on July 16, 1999. He held a memorial service for the 3 Kennedys in his chapel and placed a register book outside his 4 Harlembased funeral home that gave members of the Harlem 5 community an opportunity to express their condolences to the 6 Kennedy family. The memorial service received live coverage on 7 CNN; and 8 9 Whereas, after the amazing outpouring of heartwarming tributes 10 paid to the deceased by fellow New Yorkers, Isaiah’s “A Time for 11 Healing” crusade was organized; and 12 13 Whereas, Mr. Owens has received numerous awards for his 14 outstanding contributions to the community, including The 15 Children of Gwendolyn Bland Day Care presented by the Office of 16 the President of the Borough of Manhattan, C. Virginia Fields; an 17 award from Sardis Baptist Church signed by New York Mayor 18 Giuliani; and an award from his peers at the First District of the 19 National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association; and 20 21 Whereas, together with his beloved wife, Lillie Owens, he has 22 reared six fine children; and 23 24 Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives appreciates 25 the professional standard of excellence set by Isaiah Owens and 26 honors this distinguished son of the Palmetto State. Now, 27 therefore, 28 29 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives: 30 31 That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 32 by this resolution, recognize and commend Isaiah Owens for his 33 outstanding service in the mortuary profession for fortyfour years 34 and for the compassion and kindness he has rendered to his 35 community. 36 37 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to 38 Isaiah Owens. 39 XX 40

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