May 12, 1999
Owens offers Buckner
experience with Valley facility
___By Scott Collins
___Buckner News Service
___MISSION--Buddy Owens is a nice guy. Maybe it's the warmth of his smile. Or it could be the sincerity that seems to hang from him like an oversized coat. Whatever it is about the man, people instantly like him.
___But don't let his affable demeanor fool you into thinking Buddy Owens isn't a man ofvision. For 35 years, he has pulled, pushed and nurtured the Rio Grande Children's Home in Mission. The result is a place that, just like its founder, is full of warmth and love.
MIKE WHITECOTTON (left), executive director of Buckner for the Rio Grande Valley, and Tommy Speed (right), administrator of Rio Grande Children's Home, appreciate the fact Buddy Owens (center) is sharing with Buckner his wealth of experience from 35 years in the Valley. (Photo by Russell Rankin)
___And now that Rio Grande Children's Home is part of Buckner Children and Family Services, Owens still intends to be there pulling, pushing, nurturing--and just being nice.
___Owens "semi-retired" from the children's home eight years ago. But he never really left.
___That pleases Mike Whitecotton and Tommy Speed, two Buckner administrators with new responsibilities for the Rio Grande facility. Whitecotton is executive director of Buckner Children and Family Services for the Rio Grande Valley. Speed is the new administrator of the children's home.
___"Buddy talks about Buckner and Buckner's strengths," Whitecotton said. "But I think there is a lot for Buckner to learn from Rio Grande Children's Home too. Something Tommy and I have talked about is being careful about coming in here and 'Bucknerizing' this place. There is something here Buddy has established that's been successful. We don't want to come in tearing up things that work."
___All parties agree the merger was beneficial.
___"I believe it's of the Lord," Owens said. "I think it's one of the greatest things that has happened to the Rio Grande Children's Home. We feel like this merges Rio Grande with the elite, because Buckner has such a wonderful reputation. Buckner set the pace in childcare years ago, and it's great to be associated with success. There is no question that Buckner is a success."
___Success is something Owens knows about himself. Hundreds of children who have come through Rio Grande Children's Home in the last 35 years credit him and the Rio Grande staff with helping them be successful.
___"I have some of the fondest memories I could ever imagine from some of the things our kids did and what we did together," he said.
___ "We've been fishing together. We had a Treasure Club with a metal detector, and we would go spend the night out in the boonies and cook over the fire and take that metal detector, and we dug up more beer cans and bottle caps than you ever saw.
___"And some of the camp fires we had were just marvelous. Those boys got so honest with their feelings. I think it's the most rewarding thing in the world."
___But rewards were the furthest thing from his mind 35 years ago, when he felt "moved by the Lord" to start the children's home. At the time, he was a Baptist pastor in McAllen with no experience in residential care for children. But so strong was his call from God that he began looking to buy land for the home. Soon a site was located northwest of Mission.
___Soon after purchasing the 40 acres, Owens began canvassing the entire Rio Grande Valley in search of financial supporters for his dream. Among the first to catch sight of the vision was a group of boys he taught at the David Crockett School.
___ The boys collected $15.80 from their class and presented the contribution to Owens on Christmas 1963. With that, the dream became a reality.
___"I felt like that was a wonderful way to start a children's home, with your first offering coming from children," he said.
___Word began to spread, and a group of women in McAllen collected $500 for the project. The McAllen Monitor caught wind of what was happening and sent a photographer to take a photo of Owens receiving the check from the women.
___"We got the land, and the first thing we built was a hog pen," he said. "This fellow called us up and donated six pregnant sows. So we were in the hog business. We kept hogs until just lately, and they paid the electric bills, they paid notes and anything else. Hogs will always pull you through."
___Owens attributes the source of his determination through the years to his sense of calling from God to do something for Rio Grande children who have been neglected or abandoned. That singular aim has been the driving force of his life.
___The land, the buildings, the donations, the things visible today on the children's home campus only represent his dream. But those things never really were the dream, he said.
___His vision all along has been to heal broken lives and give children a chance at life. It is something he saw from the very beginning and now believes will be carried on in the future.
___
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