BonnerSprings.com

To the editor:

Javan Owens, a son of the Bonner Springs community, returned home to a warm welcome to be the keynote speaker for the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. It is the same community that embraced him and the family when we moved into the area in the late 1970s.

In the Bonner Springs school system, from elementary through high school, the teachers fed into Javan’s insatiable appetite for learning. The church directed him to spiritual light and life. Businesses provided him employment opportunities to develop a work ethic. Javan developed relationships with the citizens of this community. We are grateful to Chris Wood, who sent home both down slips and “happy grams”; Clausie Smith, who helped whet his appetite for journalism; Angie Wynn, who seemingly lived until she connected him to TV journalism; the Rotary Club, which sponsored his summer journalism camp; and for all of the organizations that awarded him scholarships upon graduation.

A grateful heart is good, but gratitude is incomplete until it is returned to those who have been gracious to us. So, we are appreciative of the warm welcoming Javan received in returning home, and we are grateful to Kay Shevling for allowing Javan to share with the “Village” that fed into his life.

Rev. and Mrs. John T. Owens

Bonner Springs

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