On August 31, 2006, Georgia lost one of its most gracious and distinguished daughters after she lost her fight with cancer. Sarah Jean Owen Dunaway, 74 was born in Atlanta to the late James Newton Owen, Sr. and Hattie Maybell King. She was preceded in death by her husband, John Allen Dunaway, Sr., a brother, Lawson Bass Owen , and a sister, Mary Louise Owen McLaughlin. She is survived by a brother, James Newton Owen, Jr. and several nieces and nephews. Sarah graduated from Roosevelt High (formerly Girls' High), Atlanta and attended Georgia State University. She was office Manager of the Atlanta Sales Office of Progressive Farmer and Southern Living Magazines and a member of Westminister Presbyterian Church. At the time of her death she held positions of leadership on the local, state, and national level in most of the following: Historic Oakland Cemetery Foundation, DeKalb History Center Board, Chairman of "Save Georgia's Historic Flags" collection in the Capitol Museum, Marietta Confederate Cemetery Foundation, Hebron Historical Society Board, Georgia Women of Achievement Board, National Gavel Society, United Daughters of the Confederacy, National Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters 1607-1861, Sons and Daughters of Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar 1565-1861, Daughters of American Colonists, Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Society Daughters of Indian Wars, Dames of the Court of Honor, Colonial Dames of the 17th Century, Daughters of Colonial Wars, First Families of Georgia 1733-1797, Hereditary Order of Descendants of the Loyalists and Patriots of the American Revolution, Huguenots Society, National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, Order of Americans Armorial Ancestry, United States Daughters of 1812, Guild of Colonial Artisans and Tradesman 1607-1783, Presidential Families of America, National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons. Sarah was also a member of the Georgia Humanities Council, Order of Eastern Star, Atlanta History Center/Atlanta Historical Society, Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Georgia Historical Society, Atlanta Preservation Center, Friends of the Georgia Archives, Friends of the National Archives. She was a 2005 recipient of the Georgia Governor's Awards in the Humanities and was elected Hereditary Society Community Honorary Member for the Class of 2003. Services will be held on Saturday, September 2, at 11:00 a.m. in the Chapel at H.M. Patterson and Son Spring Hill. Visitation will be 1 hour prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to "Save Georgia's Historic Flags," 431 State Capitol, Atlanta 30334 or Historic Oakland Cemetery Foundation. Arrangements by H.M. Patterson & Son, 1020 Spring Street NW Atlanta 30309 404-876-1022.

Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sept. 2, 2006.