Owen Derrell Skousen

Published in The Arizona Republic from March 3 to March 4, 2010

Owen Derrell Skousen, 77, of Mesa, AZ passed away on February 26, 2010. Owen was born August 10, 1932 in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico to Owen Mathias and Vivian Skousen. He moved to Mesa in 1946.

Owen graduated from Mesa High School in 1950 after lettering in three different sports- football, basketball, and baseball. In 2009 he was inducted into the Mesa City Sports Hall of Fame.

Owen played football and baseball on a full-ride scholarship at Brigham Young University. He graduated from BYU in 1957 with a bachelors of science, after serving in the Korean War. In 1956, Owen was drafted by the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher. Later, he moved back to Mesa where he taught and coached football and baseball at Mesa Junior High for four years. When finished coaching, Owen started a career in sales and marketing.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he served in many callings including a bishop and high council member. Family was most important to Owen, evident by the fantastic camping and hunting trips he took with his sons and grand-children.

Owen is preceded in death by his son, Randall Durrell Skousen. He is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Nancy Anderson Skousen, his children: Tracy Owen Skousen and his wife Diane Biggs, Carrie-Jean Skousen Johnson and her husband Torre, and Leilani Clifford Skousen; 11 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild with another due in July. He is also survived by his brothers Lavar and Jeannine, Lamont and Cuquie, and Sherman and Razzetta Skousen.

The viewing will be held Thursday, March 4, from 6p.m. to 8p.m. at Meldrum Mortuary. Services will be held at the Skyline Stake Center, 10305 E. Southern Ave in Mesa, on Friday, March 5, at 11a.m. A short viewing will be held at 10a.m. prior to the funeral.