WASHINGTON — Former Congressman Wayne Owens was at the end of an exhausting trip to see presidents, royalty and other high officials in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
His bags were packed, and he was ready to go home Wednesday. "But he wanted to take one last walk along the Mediterranean beach in Tel Aviv — his favorite thing to do. He died of a massive heart attack on that walk," said Sarah Ehrman, senior adviser to the Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation, which Owens created and led.
Owens' son, Douglas, said a boy found him and summoned a police officer who "also worked part time at the hotel where Dad stayed, so he knew him. They tried CPR, but it didn't work." Owens had no history of heart problems, Douglas said, but he had an older brother who also died suddenly of a heart attack about 10 years ago.
Owens, 65, will be remembered in Utah as an astute, exuberant liberal Democrat who managed to thrive in a conservative state and as a mentor to an incredible number of people in politics. But Ehrman said many elsewhere will remember "his lifelong mission to bring peace to the Palestinians and the Israelis."
Owens and S. Daniel Abraham, chairman of Owens' peace center and a longtime political ally, had taken Reps. David Price, D-N.C., and Jim Davis, D-Fla., on the long trip to meet with officials ranging from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad and Lebanon Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
"He believed with every fiber of his being that peace would come to the region," Ehrman said. He became involved with the Middle East when he served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. After he left the House, he formed his peace center in 1993 in hopes of fostering economic cooperation that would lead to peace.
Owens once told the Deseret News that he always dreamed of serving in Congress. He said that even as a child — when his friends were memorizing baseball statistics — he was memorizing facts about Congress and its members. He said that as a youth, then-Rep. Walt Granger, D-Utah, befriended him and encouraged him.
Douglas Owens said that his father was so political as a child that in 1948, as an 11-year-old, he wrote "Harry Truman for President" in chalk along the sidewalks throughout his native Panguitch.
Utah House Majority Whip Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, remembers Owens fondly, even though they were on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Both grew up in rural Garfield County, both became passionate about public lands and both embraced politics as a means toward public service.
"Wayne came from humble beginnings," Hatch said. "It is so remarkable he went from washing dishes at the Bryce Canyon Cafe to putting himself through law school to rubbing shoulders with the Kennedys."
Hatch said Owens was the butt of a lot of jokes in southern Utah because of his unpopular stance on wilderness. One joke told over and over has it that Owens was repeatedly invited NOT to attend family reunions.
"Maybe so," Hatch smiled, "but he always came. People joked, but they were proud of him, and he was never ashamed of where he came from. We all had the greatest respect for him."
Owens' political interests led him to work on a variety of campaigns. He became an aide to former Sen. Ted Moss, D-Utah, where he helped arrange a 1963 visit to Utah by President John F. Kennedy. Owens then ran in six Western states the presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy in 1968. Later, he would become the top aide to Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Owens leaped onto the Utah political scene in 1972 when instead of just running for Congress, he "walked for Congress," by traipsing through the 2nd District, which then covered half of Utah. The young, 35-year-old Owens managed to beat well-established incumbent Rep. Sherm Lloyd, R-Utah.
"My first political memory — when I was 12 years old — was of Wayne walking the entire state during his first campaign for Congress in 1972," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. "Wayne brought incredible energy and enthusiasm, challenging the Democratic political establishment with fresh ideas."
Matheson also noted that Owens became a mentor to many young people in Utah. "He liked to surround himself with talented young people, and he was always willing to give them a chance to prove themselves. He gave me — at the age of 23 — the opportunity to manage his campaign for governor in 1984."
Some other one-time young aides to Owens include former Rep. Karen Shepherd, D-Utah, and former Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini.
During his first term, Owens served on the House Judiciary Committee and joined a majority there in 1974 to vote to impeach President Richard Nixon, who resigned days later. That hurt Owens politically in Utah, where Nixon was popular. It was among factors in his defeat in his run for the U.S. Senate that year against Republican Jake Garn.
Not long after his Senate defeat, Owens was called by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a mission president in Montreal, Canada.
Many of the youths who served under him have become prominent, including Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Randal Quarles; Bud Scruggs, former chief of staff for Bangerter; Utah Public Service Commission Chairman Steve Mecham; and prominent Washington attorney Gene Schaerr.
"If you look at the Utahns of our generation who are active in public affairs, a hugely disproportionate number of them — of all political stripes — were brought to their commitment by Wayne's example and friendship and generosity in their early careers," Quarles said.
Scruggs recalled Owens as "a tremendous motivator, and he didn't do it with rah-rah speeches. He did it with trust." Scruggs added, "He had another quality, and that was to fight ferociously for what he believed in, whether it was a political issue or an environmental issue. But I never saw him lose his temper and never heard him raise his voice."
Owens returned to politics in 1984 with an unsuccessful run for governor against Republican Norm Bangerter. In 1986, he regained his old House seat and served for three terms.
During those six years in Congress, he championed environmental causes. Owens was the original sponsor of America's Redrock Wilderness Act. Although it did not pass at that time, a version of Owens' bill continues to be introduced in Congress every year, and the future of Utah's wild lands continues to be the focus of a national debate he started.
Owens also led a fight that eventually helped restore wolves to Yellowstone National Park. He once proposed a national park to protect lands that are now in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Utah's environmental community was devastated by Owens' passing, praising him as a champion who will never be replaced. "What a terrific, wonderful person we have lost," said Larry Young, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance where Owens served on the board of directors.
Young believes Owens' work on public lands issues will be a legacy environmentalists will never forget. It might even be appropriate to remember him by naming a Utah wilderness area after him.
"There is a very short list of individuals where that would be appropriate," he said. "Ed Abbey would be on the list, and certainly Wallace Stegner. And Wayne Owens. If anyone is deserving, it is Wayne Owens."
Owens, with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, passed in 1990 a bill to apologize to and compensate downwind cancer victims of atomic testing. The bill had stalled for years in the Democratic House, but Owens was able to forge alliances with such members as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to enact it.
He also worked with Garn to enact legislation needed to guarantee completion of the Central Utah Project.
"He was a good politician, and that's a compliment," Garn said. "You've got a lot of people in both parties who are the grandstanders — always running to talk to the media and such — but Wayne was willing to stick to his political philosophy whether it was popular or not. He sincerely believed in what he was doing, and you have to respect that."
Owens several times took stands that seemed to be political suicide in conservative Utah — including supporting a Supreme Court decision allowing burning of the U.S. flag and becoming the only member of the Utah delegation to oppose war with Iraq in 1991.
However, he said unpopular stands sometimes actually helped him politically, because people told him it showed he was an honest politician.
Owens gave up his House seat to run for the Senate again in 1992 against Republican Bob Bennett but lost. He was hurt by the "House bank scandal," in which he and scores of other House members were shown to have used a bank operated by the House to cover numerous bad checks — essentially giving themselves no-cost loans.
Bennett said he had known Owens for years. "Our friendship was temporarily interrupted for our Senate campaign in 1992, after which we went to lunch, buried the hatchet and have enjoyed a very cordial relationship ever since."
Since leaving the House, Owens focused mostly on his work with his Middle East peace center, often leading delegations to discuss peace initiatives and economic projects he thought could help peace — and led to his final trip there.
Ehrman at the peace center said Owens died while on his "lifelong mission to bring peace to the Palestinians and the Israelis. . . . He dedicated his life to bettering the world."
Owens is survived by his wife, Marlene, five children and eight grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Contributing: Jerry D. Spangler, Norma Wagner, Alan Edwards.
E-MAIL: spang@desnews.com