Remembering Dr. TJ Owens Legacy of ServiceOur region lost a man
of stature recently, a man that 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 that and much more. 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.
By Brittany Bach
Remembering Dr. TJ Owens Legacy of ServiceOur region lost a man of stature recently, a man that 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 that and much more. 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 1960’s, Dr. Owens co-founded our valley’s first chapter of the NAACP. His boost to the rightful struggle for human rights then, and until the day of his passing, was one of his great achievements. When he was younger and then 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.
Now, with accomplishment and community service in our mindsets, another small group of area Democrats are working with local and statewide elected leaders to proudly establish a scholarship fund for our area. Our aim is to assist yet even more young people with the noble work that they are contributing unselfishly to our neighborhoods, and local businesses are stepping up to lend support.
To our most recent young honorees, we encourage you each to recall proudly the acknowledgements you just received for your work. As you carry forward in your life and expand your efforts, try to seek out fair and honest mentors and learn from their experiences so that the same mistakes that they made – you will not have to call your own. Then lead others that are young through where you have gone.
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, remember to remain humble, and remember Dr. TJ Owens and all of the other great people in this place that make it our home.
Brittany Bach is a high school senior at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill. She served this year as California’s youngest delegate to the statewide Democratic Convention and she founded the regional young Democrat’s organization.
