Helen (Bourne) Lee Owen

Helen B. Lee Owen of Marietta, Georgia, passed away at the age of 92 on April 16, 2022. Helen was born in Marion County, Mississippi, to Henry Marvin Bourne and Mary Estelle Copeland Bourne. She graduated from Columbia High School in 1947, and a few years later spent about six months as a novitiate at the Carmelite monastery in Lafayette, Louisiana.

As a young adult, Helen worked as a secretary in Jackson, Mississippi, and then later in life at LM Berry in New Orleans. She also worked for a while as a real estate agent.

She is survived by her sister, Virginia Bourne Sloan of Knoxville, Tennessee; her children Cynthia Watson Davis (Gary), of Atlanta, Georgia; William Alter Watson, III (Peggy), of Newport News, Virginia; Janet Watson Andrews (Ken) of Albany, Georgia; Keith Stephen Watson (Roxanna), of Pace, Florida; and Terri Watson Rashid (Rick), of Prescott, Arizona. She is also survived by grandson Stephen Dana Wright of Marietta, whom she raised, 13 other grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren who brought her joy via FaceTime and in person.

Helen is preceded in death by her parents; her spouse, Harry Conrad Owen of Marietta, Georgia; her sister Mary Frances Bourne Sinclair, of Columbia, Mississippi; her brothers Thomas Moore Bourne, of Sumrall, Mississippi, and James Bennett Bourne, of Pass Christian, Mississippi; and her son Richard Murray Watson. She is also preceded in death by her previous spouse, Robert Edward Lee, of New Orleans.

Her talents included sewing, reupholstery and furniture refinishing, and her children remember her enjoying singing, square dancing, ballroom dancing, and playing bridge.

The funeral mass will be held at noon on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at the Catholic Church of the Transfiguration in Marietta, Georgia. Graveside service for family is scheduled at 11 a.m. on June 11 at the Society Hill Cemetery in Oak Vale, Mississippi. While flowers are welcome, donations in her honor may be made to the Salesian Mission, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, or Food for the Poor.

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