Floyd Daniel “Buddy” Owens passed away peacefully on April 2, 2024, at his home in Leonardtown, Maryland, at the age of 81, with his loving family and pastors at his side after an honorable and long battle with cancer. Buddy lived a life full of adventures, a career of service to our nation, and had a passion for giving back through his numerous volunteer activities.
Buddy was born in northern New Jersey, to Mabel Etta Duggan (d. 1968), and Floyd Daniel Owens, Sr (d. 1959), a little more than five months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. His father enlisted in the Navy and served on the Destroyer Escort, USS Robert Brazire. They initially provided escort services in the North Atlantic and later transited through the Panama Canal to the South Pacific where they stayed until the end of WWII. Buddy had an older sister, Frances E. “Nancy” Thalmann (d. 2023).
Buddy graduated from Woodbridge High School, NJ in 1961, and since his father had passed away two years earlier and money was tight, he followed his father’s lead and enlisted in the Navy. After boot camp at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, he received orders to Navy Aviation Electronics Technician A School in Millington, Tennessee. His first duty station was with a VP-49, P5M anti-submarine warfare squadron, at the Naval Operating Base in Bermuda. They patrolled the Mid-Atlantic, surviving many transits through the Bermuda Triangle.
Shortly after arriving at VP-49, he was assigned as a radio operator on Crew 3, and was responsible for sending and receiving message traffic, as well as managing the aircraft’s electrical system. They were soon directed to Guantanamo Bay, where they flew during the Cuban Missile Crisis, monitoring progress of Russian vessels. Without any formal training in Cyrillic, Buddy was tasked with documenting the names of each of the Russian vessels. While they knew tensions were high, they had no idea they were on ground zero for a possible nuclear war.
The VP-49 squadron transitioned to the P3A in 1964 when Buddy was transferred to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, where he was honorably discharged on August 20, 1965. However, Buddy’s love for flying did not stop when he left the Navy; he went on to earn his pilot’s license and became a certified flight instructor for eight years.
After leaving the Navy, Buddy began his 34-year civil service career for the Department of Defense at Webster Field in September 1965, where he specialized in radio communications systems for Navy auxiliary ships and Marine Corps communications and landing systems. Buddy oversaw various programs that advanced our technical capabilities and helped secure our national defense. For example, in 1975 his program built the AN/TSC-85 high frequency (“HF”) communication system, which improved the termination reliability of the Marine Corps’ HF communications, their primary mode of communication at the time, from 15% to better than 95% accuracy. He also oversaw the development of the Marine Corps Scanning Beam landing system, AN/TRN28, which provided helicopter pilots with more precise data for a safer instrument-controlled landing.
Buddy retired from the civil service in 1999, but was not yet ready to stop learning or working. He achieved his Bachelor of Science from Almeda University with a major in Electronics Technology, and went on to work for Eagan, McAllister Associates (EMA) and then for The MIL Corporation until he finally retired in 2015. While Buddy had many adventures and successes in his career, the best part was the friendships he made with his colleagues. He wanted to specifically honor his friendships with Dave Larson, John Richards, and Joe Knoefel who remained close friends long after they retired.
Throughout his life, Buddy had a passion for the drums and was a self-taught musician. He started playing the drums in High School where he joined a band that made a few jazz albums. He continued playing drums while in the Navy playing for various bands during his off hours and even stepped in for some famous acts that were on tour. In fact, playing drums in a band is how he met his first wife, Carolyn “Kay” Owens (d. 1994), who was a school teacher at Great Mills High School. His rendition of the song “Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight” won her heart.
Buddy and Carolyn married on August 21, 1965, the day after he was discharged from the Navy, and they settled in Leonardtown, Maryland where they had two children, Daniel and Carrie. As a young father he enjoyed coaching his son’s little league baseball teams. Buddy later volunteered as assistant football coach at Leonardtown High School.
Buddy met his second wife, Joyce, in September 1995 through a colleague at work who played matchmaker and it was love at first date. After a long courtship, they married on August 12, 2000, officially bringing Joyce and her daughter, Lindsay Bradburn, into the family. Despite having two kids already in college, Buddy eagerly accepted the opportunity to be a dad once again to Lindsay.
While having been confirmed as a child in the Catholic Church, Buddy joined the Leonardtown Baptist Church with Joyce, in 1998, when they were both baptized. Their love for Christ and desire to serve others led them to prison ministry where they served for 10 years at the St. Mary’s County Detention Center. While Buddy served with Pastor Gordon Bacon of Rushing Winds Ministry they saw the recidivism rate drop to fewer than 20%. Buddy’s favorite Bible verse was 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Buddy also volunteered with the Rotary Club of Lexington Park where he served on the Scholarship Committee and the Oyster Board. This was one of his favorite volunteer activities as it allowed him to greet thousands of Southern Marylanders as they entered the gates for the Oyster Festival. Buddy’s volunteer work with the Oyster Festival actually began when he served as President for the St. George’s Optimist Club, where he helped to create “crab chili” in order to entice sales during a very warm weekend. This caught the attention of a reporter from the Food Network and began the tradition of crab chili.
After retirement, Buddy enjoyed traveling with Joyce to various foreign destinations, returning regularly to Italy on tours led by Vincenzo D’arista. They loved discovering hidden spots tourists often miss, dining with local residents, and enjoying the “best gelato in all of Italy” at every town they visited. Their travels also took them to Ireland, where Buddy reunited with a distant family member of the Duggan clan. After a chance encounter, he warmly greeted Buddy and Joyce, taking the day off from work to show them around the small town of Roscarbury.
Buddy loved to fish and golf – both of which brought him equal fun and frustration. He often carried a set of clubs in his truck and was easily persuaded to hit the green even if he was already at work, ready to walk into the building. When Buddy and Joyce bought their home on Breton Bay, he quickly bought a boat and enjoyed fishing every chance he got. Buddy delighted in hosting family and friends with Joyce for both grand holiday gatherings or a simple BBQ after a day of swimming and fishing. Above all, Buddy most enjoyed sitting with Joyce in the evenings as the sun set over the bay, observing God’s glory and the serenity of the water.
Buddy is survived by his wife Joyce; and children Daniel and his wife Jennifer of Herndon, VA; Carrie of Falls Church, VA; Lindsay and her husband Robert of Tall Timbers, MD; and his four grandchildren, Blaine, Brooke, Emily, and Caroline. Buddy was a proud husband, father, and “Pop Pop,” ready to spoil his grandchildren with whatever adventure or treat they desired. Buddy’s greatest desire is that his family and friends find the same comfort and faith in Christ that he did and understand that it is through God’s grace from our belief in Jesus Christ as our savior, and not our works, that we are saved.
The family will receive friends for a visitation on Friday, April 12, 2024, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with a memorial service beginning at 12:00 p.m., at Leonardtown Baptist Church, 23520 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650. Interment will follow the service at Charles Memorial Gardens, 26325 Point Lookout Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of the following organizations:
Hospice of St. Mary’s: https://giving.medstarhealth.org/medstarhealth/get-involved/donate/hospice
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html?sc_icid=wtg-mm-btn-donate-now
