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LUDINGTON — Whereas on deployment, Starla Owens’ son would name her each three days. She spoke with him on Nov. 6, 2007, and anticipated one other name Nov. 9, nevertheless it by no means got here.
Owens stated she didn’t sleep a wink that evening. It wasn’t till the subsequent day, after settling in at work, that she could be informed her solely son, Joseph Lancour, had been killed in Afghanistan.
The person Owens was dwelling with on the time known as her and stated she wanted to return residence instantly. She stated he couldn’t get the phrases out over the telephone, however she might inform one thing was fallacious.
Owens knew at the back of her thoughts that the knock on the door, telling her that her son was gone, might come at any second. However she at all times assumed she’d be there when it occurred.
“I wasn’t residence when the knock got here, however I needed to drive 27 miles for them to knock on the door once more, and for me to be residence,” she stated. “And in order that’s once I felt that every part inside me was simply drained.”
It took Owens a few 12 months to return to work, and only some months in to her return, she was placed on medical depart. With no job to maintain her occupied, she began brainstorming methods to honor her son, and determined to begin up a memorial scholarship fund in his identify.
For the primary few years of fundraising, Owens and her daughters held spaghetti dinners, rummage gross sales and softball tournaments. She stated most of their occasions have been profitable, they usually had as soon as raised round $10,000 in a single night. However Owens nonetheless wished to solidify the Joe Lancour Memorial Scholarship in a approach that wouldn’t require a fundraiser yearly.
“I wished it lifetime, so once I’m gone and my daughters are gone, my grandchildren can award the scholarships,” she stated. “And so we set it up with Ludington Excessive Faculty.”
Joe was born in Cadillac, and attended college throughout the neighborhood by means of kindergarten earlier than relocating to Ludington.
Owens stated the 2 most vital issues to her son have been schooling and giving again to others, and people beliefs impressed the scholarship’s institution with the highschool.
When Joe was younger, she stated he spent plenty of time collaborating in sports activities, however his favourite after-school exercise was skateboarding. Owens stated a reminiscence that’s at all times caught together with her that spotlight’s her son’s selflessness occurred only a few weeks earlier than she purchased him a brand new pair of skateboarding footwear for his birthday.
Again then, she stated an honest pair of skate footwear price about $90, and though the household didn’t wrestle financially, it wasn’t a straightforward buy to make. Every day, she stated Joe would come residence and duct tape his footwear to make them final so long as potential.
“He stated ‘payments are first; handle what we have to handle it, and if it’s potential, I would like new footwear,’” Owens stated. “He was the type of child who would provide the shirt off of his again and provide the final greenback out of his pocket.”
As an grownup, Joe’s need to guard and provides again manifested by means of his enlistment within the U.S. Military. Owens stated the curiosity had at all times been there, however what actually pushed him to affix up was the necessity to belong to one thing larger than himself. He enlisted in 2006, only a 12 months earlier than his passing.
In that point, Owens and her household despatched care packages abroad, they usually heard from Joe as soon as each three days like clockwork, even when he was deployed. Joe knew the chance was there, Owens stated, however he at all times made a degree to log off their telephone calls by saying ‘Goodbye,’ versus ‘Goodbye.’
Joe didn’t have the possibility to proceed his schooling after highschool, however Owens stated he at all times felt it was the important thing to success. Her hope is that by means of the scholarship fund, college students at Ludington Excessive Faculty can have the chance to additional their schooling whereas retaining her son’s reminiscence alive.
“It’s by no means too late to say I really like you, it’s by no means too late to make a distinction in at the moment’s world,” she stated. “I can’t have my son again, and I do know that sooner or later, once I get to that stage in life the place the great Lord calls me residence, I do know he’s gonna be proper there with my mother and my grandmother ready for me. … However for right here on earth, we are able to’t neglect those who have impacted our lives.”
This 12 months’s fundraising effort for the Joe Lancour Memorial Scholarship is a golf scramble at Lincoln Hills Golf Membership in Ludington on Aug. 26. The occasion kicks off with the opening of the silent public sale at midday. Groups will examine in at 12:30 p.m., and the shotgun begin is at 1:30 p.m. {Golfing} will conclude at 6 p.m., adopted by dinner, awards and the announcement of public sale winners at 6:30 p.m.
Owens stated there’s nonetheless time for groups to enroll, and anybody can provide her a name at (231) 613-0349.
“All the things will happen proper there at Lincoln Hills,” she stated. “And so it’ll be good to simply come collectively once more for a very good trigger.”
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