Ambrose Owens Obituary

Ambrose Lloyd "Tripp" Owens III died unexpectedly on July 4, 2025, doing something he truly loved-operating his CW HAM radio in a Parks on the Air (POTA) Park activation in Harnett County.
Born in Wilson on June 10, 1968, to Candis Bailey and Ambrose Lloyd Owens, Jr., and moving only weeks later to Tarboro, Tripp was well known and loved in his community. A 1987 graduate of Tarboro High School, he pursued business degrees first at Louisburg College (1989) and then Barton College (1991). Tripp joined his parents at Braswell Distributing where he developed business relationships and lasting friendships across northeastern North Carolina. When the business closed in 2005 and having spent time as a volunteer paramedic with Edgecombe County EMS, Tripp attended Edgecombe Community College where he graduated with an associate's degree in nursing. He worked at ECU Health Edgecombe Hospital in the Ambulatory Surgical Unit. Beginning most patient interactions with "Where are you from? Who are your people?" he had a gift for putting people at ease. He especially enjoyed working with the nursing students who rotated through his department.
Tripp, whose call sign was N4NTO, started with HAM Radio in high school and was mentored locally by Alva Clark, Elbert Stocks, Carlton Moseley, and others along the way. His passion grew over the years, and he honed his morse code skills and ability to build antennae. With this expertise, he became quite a contester and developed long-distance friendships around the world. In the last 10 years, Tripp's enjoyment became just as much, if not more, about spreading the passion and joy of HAM Radio to the next generation of operators.
Tripp met his wife, Johanna, after college when she taught at Tarboro High School. They kept in touch off and on through the years and reconnected in 1999 while she was living in Washington, D.C. They married in 2001 and raised their children in Tarboro among family and friends. Some favorite family times were on the Tar River and the Albemarle Sound boating, fishing, swimming, and pulling the kids on the tube. He was a great father, uncle, husband, son, brother, and friend.
He is preceded in death by his father; grandparents Cora Choplin and James Pressley Bailey who lived in the Stony Hill area of Wake County, and Francina Worrell and Ambrose Lloyd Owens who lived in Plymouth, N.C.; his aunt Susan Bailey Owens who lived in Roper, N.C.; and his parents-in-law Margot Gladding and Arthur Hope Shackelford who lived in Kinston.
He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Johanna Shackelford Owens, and children Simon Lloyd Owens and Sadie Worrell Owens; mother Candis Bailey Owens of Tarboro, sister Lisa Owens Daughtry and husband Alan of Greenville, niece Bailey Foote Blount with husband Thomas and daughter Eloise of Bethel, and nephew Matt Daughtry of Greenville; aunts and uncles Ebby Owens of Roper, Margaret and Charles Peacock of Raleigh, Joan and John Leatherman of Salisbury, Sanford and Rena Bailey and Agnes and Jim Goldston of Wake Forest; sisters-in-law Lee Shackelford Smoot and Greg of Longmont, Colo., and Sarah Shackelford Smith and Matt of Buffalo, N.Y.; and a host of cousins and nieces.
A funeral service with committal will be held at 4:00 pm on Thursday, July 10, at Calvary Episcopal Church, 411 East Church Street, Tarboro. A visitation will be held Wednesday evening from 5:00 p.m. till 7:30 p.m. at the home, 503 Saint Patrick Street. The family will also receive friends after the service and other times at home.
The family requests no flowers. Memorial contributions may be made to Preservation Trust Fund, Calvary Episcopal Church, 411 East Church Street, Tarboro, NC 27886; to the Braswell Sheffield Scholarship c/o NC Community Foundation, 3737 Glenwood Avenue #460, Raleigh, NC 27612; or to the charity of one's choice.
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