James Vardiman “Jim” Owens

Memorial services for James V. ‘Jim’ Owens, 100, Lawrence, will be announced in April by Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home & Crematory.

Jim Owens, founder of Owens Flower Shop in downtown Lawrence, is said to be the only person who ever served in all of three key positions: Lawrence’s mayor, president of the Lawrence school board and the chairman of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

“Not only did he love this city, but he dedicated his life to serving it,” said Joe Flannery, president of Weaver’s department store, who grew up knowing the Owens family. “He was a generous, loving soul who always wanted whatever was best for Lawrence. He contributed whatever he could to make it a better place.”

Owens died Monday at Pioneer Ridge Assisted Living. He was 100.

Owens, whom Flannery called one of the “true gentlemen” of Lawrence, was born in 1915 in Richland, a town in southeastern Shawnee County. He was in Salina during the Great Depression and landed in Lawrence for good in 1946, after returning from military service.

That year, he and his wife, Laura, purchased the flower shop, then named Ward’s Flowers. He bought it on somewhat of a whim for $50,000, with the previous owner predicting he wouldn’t last in the business two months.

Owens and his wife operated the shop for 35 years. They sold it in 1974, and it remains in business today, still bearing the “Owens Flower Shop” name.

The 2011 Lawrence Business Hall of Fame inducted Owens, along with Bob Billings, Shirley Martin-Smith and Gene Meyer.

In a speech Owens gave upon receiving an induction into the Lawrence Business Hall of Fame in 2011, he told one of his favorite stories from being a florist: traveling to Washington, D.C. during the Gerald Ford administration to help decorate the White House with flowers.

Years after purchasing the flower shop, Owens decided he could contribute something else to the city.

Owens ran for the City Commission and served as the mayor of Lawrence in 1964 and 1965. Around that time, he also took up the post of chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and he was elected as school board president. In a 2011 interview with the Journal-World, Owens said he “just enjoyed it all.”

Kathy and Steven Bruner were Owens’ neighbors on Raintree Place for more than 30 years. The neighborhood was tight-knit, Kathy Bruner said, and Owens was “the best conversationalist.”

“He was, without a doubt, one of the neatest men I’ve ever known,” she said.

Owens was commonly known in Lawrence as a florist and a dedicated public servant, but he described himself, above all else, as an optimist.

“I’m an optimist,” he said in a 2013 interview. “And that has served me pretty well in life.”

Laura Owens died in 2004 at age 89. The couple had three children, Laura, Martin and Justine.