Miss Owensby

Miss Owensby had a wonderful life.  She had two loving parents, actively engaged in her life.  Her Mother was an accomplished violinist.  Miss Owensby lived in a house filled with music.  It was not if she would get into music and play an instrument, it was when.  She began in the first grade.  In junior high, she played in the church orchestra with her Mother.  Miss Owensby was the youngest orchestra player in the city of Jonesboro Georgia.  In high school she joined the marching band, and her senior year she led that band as the drum major.  Being a drum major put the fire for music in her.

It was then that she began looking at music scores.  She loved writing and arranging music, and bringing it all together.  Her teachers told her, when she wrote a musical score, to go play it on the piano to see if she liked it.  But Miss Owensby didn’t need to.  She could hear the music just by looking at the score.  Miss Owensby majored in music at the University of Georgia.  She became a music teacher.  Her high school sweetheart proposed to her in her senior year and they married when she graduated from college.  Miss Owensby had a wonderful life.  Wouldn’t you agree?

The happy couple moved to Texas.  She and her husband sat beside each other as they played in their church orchestra.  One day the Music Minister called and asked her to consider directing their orchestra.  She accepted reluctantly, but her natural skill fit the position of director as if she was made for it.

For over six years, she directed the orchestra and taught music from her church office.  By now, Miss Owensby had a beautiful daughter.  Several years later, she had a precious baby boy.  Their family was complete, but they wanted to be closer to home, so Miss Owensby’s husband found work here in Huntsville.  They were anxious to see what new music program the Lord had for them.  She could not have been happier.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.“They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen.” Jer 29: 11-12.

PDD-NOS was the official diagnosis.  Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified.  Miss Owensby sat in an office, not long after arriving here, filling out a form to test her son.  As she read the multiple choice questions, she found herself saying; “God, this is a description of my son!”  She handed the form to the staff member to score, but Miss Owensby already knew the answer. It was confirmed. PDD-NOS is a form of autism.

She went into the hall, held her son, and cried.  “Lord,” she said, “You gave me my son…now teach me how to take care of him.”  Miss Owensby’s husband was an engineer, so as an engineer might do, he began to put the pieces together so they could build a safe life for their boy.

The doctor visits began, then the therapy visits.  The financial realities came pouring in, and their lives changed daily.  Miss Owensby knew where the hospital was, before she knew where to buy groceries.  Their daughter learned about autism as well, and gave a presentation on it to her classmates.  She even created a phamphlet to help educate her class.

The Lord knew they needed a church home, and of all people to make a church visit to this musically talented family, Mark Jacobs knocked on their door to welcome them.  When he discovered Miss Owensby’s musical background, he said; “God has sent you to me.  I need your help.”  He was right.  God did send Miss Owensby to him…and to us.

Miss Owensby is a scholar in music.  She has become a scholar in autism.  She knows what it’s like to grieve, to hurt, and to cry those tears.  When asked if she uses her musical skills to work with her son, she said; “Yes. I look at him as a music composition that I haven’t finished writing yet.  We’re on the second page and we have a whole two-hour symphony to write… but I’m not the composer, I’m just the arranger.  God is the Composer.  I get to arrange the parts, I get to see it, and listen to it, and watch it…and I’m so thankful to be part of it. 

Miss Owensby had a wonderful life.  She still has a wonderful life.  While she arranges the parts of life in her family, she also arranges part of the worship service for us, her church family.  Her life has been set to the music of worship, service, and sacrifice. You know Miss Owensby, even though you may only see the back of her hair on Sunday mornings….as she directs our orchestra.

This story is  about Miss Owensby.

You know her as Amy Owensby Pittman, our Orchestra Director. 

Advertisement