Seamus "Mike" Owen Obituary (1944 - 2022)

Born Jun 10, 1944, Seamus "Mike" Owen attended Santa Cruz High School in Santa Cruz, CA. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Seamus "mike" Owen.

Graduation Year	Class of 1963
Date of Birth	Jun 10, 1944
Date of Passing	Mar 07, 2022
About	The term "Renaissance Man" doesn't apply to many, but it clearly applied to the life of Seamus Michaeljon Owen who lived and loved life to the fullest. Olympic class Greco-Roman & state champion wrestler, mountain climber, shoeshine boy, newspaper peddler, surfer, lumberjack, football player, geologist, godfather, hippie, aircraft mechanic, golfer, published poet, vintage car aficionado, avid Cal Football and Formula 1 fan, Olympic Club Member, business executive, race car driver, father, husband, friend and neighbor are all terms that can refer to Seamus who died on Monday, March 7, 2022 after putting up a valiant fight with cancer. Born in Evanston, Illinois in 1944, Seamus's family moved to California where he started grade school in Berkeley. After his family relocated to Santa Cruz, CA in 1953, he graduated from Santa Cruz High School in 1963. Seamus had a sterling wrestling career at Santa Cruz. He was the CCAL and NCS champion as a sophomore, repeated as league champion the next season when he took first in the Northern California Invitational and second in the CCS finals. As a senior, Seamus continued to dominate the league, going undefeated in dual matches and snatching the title once again. He won again at the NCS finals, where he was named outstanding wrestler. He capped his senior year with his second consecutive NCI championship. He was also part of the 1962 undefeated Santa Cruz football team, playing center. While he made the 1972 and 1976 US Olympic Teams, Seamus was injured on both occasions so did not compete. He made the team a final time in 1980, when the US didn't send a team to Moscow to protest the Russians in Afghanistan (needless to say, Seamus' least favorite president is Jimmy Carter). On November 3, 2018, Seamus was inducted into the Santa Cruz High School Athletics Hall of Fame. He started his college education at Merritt College in Oakland, attended a few classes at UC Berkeley, and ultimately transferred to San Francisco State University where he graduated cum laude in 1971 with his bachelor's degree in geomorphology. In between, he worked as a lumberjack and at a photoshop. Before and throughout the "Summer of Love," Seamus lived in the Haight Ashbury, where rumor has it he dated Grace Slick. While attending college, Seamus started work for United Airlines in 1966 as an aircraft mechanic (despite never having flown on an airplane). Thankfully, it was an apprentice program and his co-workers made sure he studied during midnight shift so he could graduate. Seamus continued with United in various positions from mechanic to shop steward to recruiter to facilities manager to personnel manager to ramp service manager until 1983, when he left to join Sea-Land, an ocean shipping company. After Sea-Land, Seamus' career continued to grow at such companies as Ross Stores, Clothestime and Tradebeam, where he retired after the company was purchased. Seamus met the love of his life, Laura, in Hawaii. They married in 1981 in San Francisco and have 2 beautiful, talented, incredible smart daughters – Lara Katherine and Elizabeth Micaela. Seamus and Laura celebrated 40 years of love together last August. Family and friends will remember his amazing sense of humor, his endless stories (some true, some mostly true as every 3rd thing he said might not be true, and that would be in any random order), and how fiercely he loved the people in his life. Seamus was preceded in death by his father, John Henry Waddell, and his mother, Elizabeth Owen. He is survived by his wife, Laura; his 2 children, Lara Katherine and Elizabeth Micaela; his brothers, Sean and Seanchan, his half-sisters Tamar and Amy, and his half brothers, William and Lindsey.
Events	Seamus requested that his ashes be scattered on the beach in Hawaii where he and Laura spent countless hours during their first months together. There will be no memorial service. In lieu of flowers, Seamus asked that you donate to Mission Hospice (missionhospice.org), whose nurturing staff provided Seamus with extraordinarily loving care, ensuring he continued to enjoy his life every day as he always had. Also to Mayo Clinic, without whose early diagnosis would not have insured Seamus so many more years of life or to the Salvation Army, one of Seamus' favorite charities.

Classmate Memories

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Gary Rochelle '70 said:

I vaguely remember Mike as a wrestler at SCHS when my older brother wrestled there also.
Seems he went by the nickname, Yogi. I don’t remember how he got that name.
Gary Rochelle
Class of 70.

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