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In memory of

Eleanor Owen

Seattle, WA

January 22, 1921 - February 6, 2022

Jan 22, 1921 - Feb 6, 2022

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Eleanor Owen, a longtime theater artist, journalist, educator and advocate for the mentally ill, passed away peacefully at her home in Seattle on Sunday, February 6. She was 101 years of age. During her long and active lifetime, she distinguished herself in several fields. But it is her work on behalf of the mentally ill for which she is best known and most honored.

Born on January 22, 1921, in Brooklyn, NY, Eleanor was the fourth of nine children of Italian immigrants Frank and Elvira DeVito. She grew up, primarily in New York’s Hudson Valley, during the Depression, which strongly touched her family. Graduating high school at age 16, she briefly studied journalism before securing a job at the Newburgh Daily News, where she worked for two years.

Moving to New York City, Eleanor attended the Traphagen School of Fashion and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, immersing herself the city’s vibrant arts community. She created original costumes for several modern dance companies, including that of Merce Cunningham; acted both on- and off-Broadway and in summer stock; and toured widely in a production of "Life with Father.” She also directed children's plays for the New York Children's Theatre Company.

In 1952, her theater work took her to Kennewick, WA, where she participated in productions of the Richland Light Opera Co. She later joined the staff of the Tri-Cities Herald. It was there, also, that she married John Owen, her husband of nearly half a century. Together they had two children: Susan, born 1953, and John, Jr., known as Jody, born 1955. In 1955 John took an engineering job at Boeing, and the family moved to Seattle.

In Seattle, Eleanor returned to school, earning a bachelor’s degree and an MA degree in educational psychology at the University of Washington. She also continued her work in the dramatic arts, leading workshops in children’s theater at Seattle Public Library, the University of Washington and, later, at the Spokane Children’s Theater Festival. In the 1960s and early 1970s she was a member of the faculty of Seattle’s Lakeside School. Subsequently she taught in the UW School of Drama, where she served as Associate Professor.

In 1978, Eleanor’s life and work took a decisive change when, prompted by her son’s diagnosis of schizophrenia and her resulting awareness of the inadequacies of laws and treatment protocols pertaining to mental illness, she embarked on what would become a decades-long campaign to improve the lives of people living with psychiatric illnesses. The first step in that campaign was her founding of Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill, which she directed for nearly a quarter-century. Under her leadership, WAMI became a critical force in the fight for more enlightened attitudes toward, and treatment of, those with mental illness. Much of that fight took the form of legislative advocacy, which Eleanor conducted with well-informed arguments, fierce energy and dogged persistence. Those qualities led to sweeping changes in Washington State’s laws affecting mental health care, including, among other things, legislation allowing involuntary confinement and treatment of those whose condition poses “a grave threat to themselves or others.” Recognizing that this criterion was important but not sufficient, she pushed for changes that refined the law and eventually drafted new language that added "grave disability due to mental illness" as a criterion for 72-hour detention.

In addition to legislative advocacy, Eleanor led WAMI in pressuring UW and other schools to teach more science-oriented and evidence-based modalities in treating psychiatric disorders; fighting the stigma that widely attends mental illness by educating teachers, students and the public about its causes and effects; and guiding families and others to resources offering help in coping with schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and similar debilitating conditions. In 1979 she was among the handful of activists who established the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or NAMI, which is today the leading national advocacy organization for the mentally ill. Another signal accomplishment was the key role she played in establishing the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC). Created in 1979 through a partnership between the City of Seattle, the Greater Seattle Council of Churches and WAMI, DESC remains a leading organization providing food, shelter, medical care and other services to the homeless in Seattle, a population that includes many persons living with mental illness.

For these and other activities Eleanor has been widely respected and copiously honored. She served on the King County Mental Health Advisory Board; as member and president of the Mental Health Association of Washington; as executive committee member of the DSHS Title XIX Advisory Committee; and as co-founder and member of the Coalition for Insurance Parity, which played an important role in the fight to compel health insurance companies to cover psychiatric illnesses at parity with other medical conditions. In 1999 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the King County Mental Health Exemplary Service Awards. The following year she was named Outstanding Member Advocate by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and received the Jefferson Award from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for her work on behalf of the mentally ill. Two years later, King County, Washington, honored her by proclaiming an “Eleanor Owen Day” in recognition of her achievements. Daniel H. Gillison, Jr., the current CEO of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, said: “Anyone who cares about mental illness, and the people it touches, owes this remarkable woman a tremendous debt of gratitude. NAMI is immensely thankful for her courage, her tireless dedication and her accomplishments, which will stand the test of time.”

In 2002 Eleanor retired as Executive Director of Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill, which had changed its name to NAMI Greater Seattle. She nevertheless remained vitally concerned and involved with the cause to which she had devoted such energy and passionate advocacy over the years. During her final decade she undertook yet another endeavor, writing a memoir of her early years growing up in an immigrant family. Happily, she lived to see her book, The Gone Room, published in the last weeks of her life.

Eleanor Owen is survived by her daughter, Susan Owen, of New Orleans; her son John, Jr. (“Jody”) Owen, of Seattle; Mildred Starin (99) of Newburgh, NY, the last remaining of her eight siblings; her grand-niece Allegra Guarino, of Berkeley, CA; and over 100 other nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews currently living across the United States and in Europe. In addition, she leaves a strong community of friends she considered near and dear to her, and who return the sentiment.

Donations may be made in the name of Eleanor Owen to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

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