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Feature article April, 2006 Charlie Owens, pre-need counselor with Catholic Cemeteries, was doing his job on a recent Friday morning researching available burial plots at St. John Cemetery, Lenexa, Kan. An alert ear and what Owens called "being in the right place at the right time" turned him into a first responder and helped avert a more serious situation. Owens said he was in the center of the cemetery, located at 89th and Pflumm Road, when he heard a smoke alarm. He saw the back door of a nearby house open, and the female resident exit to the deck coughing. Owens got the woman's attention, and she indicated that everything was all right and returned inside. The smoke detector kept sounding; the woman continued coughing. By this time, smoke was streaming out the back door. The woman exited again, this time with a flaming piece of furniture she placed upon the wooden deck. An eight-foot fence prevented Owens from offering immediate assistance, but he called 9-1-1, went to his car and drove around the block to the front of the house. A police officer arrived on site and quickly removed the burning furniture from the deck. Charlie hooked up a neighbor's garden hose and put out the flaming furniture. The resident was in the front yard, shaken up but apparently unharmed. A potentially damaging fire had been averted. "I felt good about being able to help her," Owens said. "I was just at the cemetery doing my job, trying to find space for a family making pre-need burial arrangements."
The story had a second happy ending for Owens: The family purchased the burial spaces!
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