PREMIUM
The family of a gardener who died in yesterday evening’s fire (Monday) in Chipping Campden have spoken of their heartbreak.
Jesse Owen
Francis Owens, otherwise known as Jesse, was doing work for a customer in Berrington Road when the fire broke out.
The fire quickly spread to the field behind the houses, and a mass emergency response attended the scene, including an air ambulance.
Alas Mr Owens could not be saved.
Posting on Facebook, his son Patrick Owens shared the family’s devastation.
He said: “You were and are still very much loved, especially Mum, your beautiful wife Mandy Owens. It’s been a tough night but we are just now sitting down and listening to Chipping Campden’s morning Chorus – all the beautiful birdsong which mum and you loved so very much at this time of morning.”
Patrick added: “Love you, Dad. I promise I will look after Mum I promise until you both meet again.”
Known for his exceptional hard work clearing gardens and overgrown areas, Mr Owen worked largely by hand, eschewing modern technology, and thus called his business ‘A Luddite’.
Jesse Owen with wife Mandy and son Patrick, front
The former Chipping Campden Grammar School student explained on his website that he had given up a ‘Yuppy’ career, to work with his hands and mixed “a passion for hard physical labour with a healthy questioning of modern big-tech and validating a slowing world being fun, good and necessary.”
The explanation also says he enjoyed the work ethic of his Welsh chapel parents, and that he was proudly the “epitome of a luddite, through his love for the fundamental philosophies of old world traditionalism”.
In tribute, son Patrick added: “You were The Renaissance Man of Chipping Campden and The Cotswolds and The Luddite of Our Generation.”
Giving the names of Mr Owens’ loved ones, Patrick shared: “To Dad, husband to Mum, son to Martin Owens, GrandPops To Ebony-Rose, Jack Francis and
Joshua Owens. And definitely not forgetting Dad to Isy, Lola and GrandPops To Bella. Your beautiful Baby Pups.”
Patrick signed off: “We love you, feeling heartbroken.”
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