Virginia Owens

"Virginia Owens born in 1946 in Colorado the oldest of three children, she grew up in Beckley West Virginia. Her parents married after WWII and enjoyed traveling around the US while her father was a border patrol agent.

She attended Berea College after graduating from high school in West Virginia and that is where she met her future husband, Phillip Owens. Philip was a farmer and an attorney. Phillip died in 2009. They had two sons, Tom who resides in Eugene, Oregon and Daniel who resides in Irvine. Daniel has one daughter, Brooklyn. Ginny and Philip raised their boys on a 70 acre farm where they gardened, raised chickens, a few pigs and many dogs and cats.

Philip was drafted into military service during the Vietnam War and served for 15 months after service his country he came home and went to law school at the University of Kentucky and practiced in Stanton for 12 years, later closing his practice to focus on the family farm. During this time Ginny taught in the Clark County School System working at Trapp Elementary and Pilot View.

After retiring from Clark County she began her tenure at the Estill County Public Library as the Children’s librarian. During her time at the ECPL she created the homeschool enrichment program which serves the area’s homeschooled children and offers a chance for the children to meet together and learn. The program started small but has grown to over 40 participants this year alone. Mrs. Owens also travels various daycare centers in Estill County to do story hours on Tuesday with additional story hours on Wednesday and Fridays at the library. Not to mention the annual summer reading programs which bring in several special events for the county’s children such as a reptile zoo, magician, storytellers, ice cream social and other fun events that make a special impact on our youth. Each summer hundreds children participate in the summer reading program.

In her spare time Ginny enjoys sewing, reading, gardening and cooking. Some might say that she is an especially talented baker and frequently bakes wonderful treats for the various clubs of which she is an active participant. She is a member of the Estill Arts Council, The Estill County Genealogical & Historical Society, Eastern Star and a deacon at the First Christian Church of Irvine.

The author John Green once described children’s librarians like this, “Adult librarians are like lazy bakers: their patrons want a jelly doughnut, so they give them a jelly doughnut. Children’s librarians are ambitious bakers: 'You like the jelly doughnut? I’ll get you a jelly doughnut. But you should try my cruller, too. My cruller is gonna blow your mind, kid.” This quote rings true for our Miss Ginny as the kids call her. She blows their minds daily by giving them the world through books." - From Virginia Owens Hall of Honor Induction, 2013, As viewed 10/11/20 at [1]