HONORING OWEN

Forever6 Scholarship keeps first grader’s memory alive by giving RCC students opportunities

By Lorie McCroskey

Owen Carter Greene was like any other six-year-old. He enjoyed being outdoors with his daddy and taking shopping trips with Mama. He admired his two big brothers and wanted to be just like them, and he loved ice cream with all kinds of different toppings.

But in January of 2019, the Uwharrie Charter Academy first grader passed away unexpectedly.

His dad, Jeremy, an adjunct instructor at Randolph Community College, and his wife, Amber, knew almost immediately how they wanted to honor their son’s legacy. The parents started the Owen Carter Greene Forever6 Endowed Scholarship. Even though Owen was years away from even starting to think about college, Jeremy and Amber knew helping a student attend college would be the perfect way to remember their son.

“We have done many things to honor the memory of our son Owen, but we felt that starting a scholarship in his honor would be the best way to help others the most,” Amber said. “By doing so, he is helping with the achievement of their dreams. In his life, Owen was a giver, and this is a way of giving a part of himself to each person that benefits from his scholarship.”

Jeremy Greene has encouraged his coworkers and contacts in business from all over the United States to give to the endowed scholarship that bears his son’s name. Amber believes that has helped their family in so many ways.

“It is very important to us to keep his memory alive, and we are forever grateful to those who have supported his scholarship and most importantly our family,” she said. “Losing Owen has been life shattering to us. It left us empty but knowing that people are remembering him is balm to our soul.”

Amber and Jeremy opened the scholarship to all RCC academic majors because they said they had no idea what Owen may have wanted to study when he got older.

The Owen Carter Greene Forever6 Endowed Scholarship will be a legacy of love for a little boy whom his mom said, “loved beyond all means and truly had sunshine in his soul.”

The Randolph Community College Arboretum may not look like a classroom just yet, but thanks to a generous gift by the Brayton Family Foundation in August of 2022, it will be a learning lab sooner than expected. The grant already helped purchase a building for Agribusiness Technology Department Head Derrick Cockman to store equipment and materials that will be used for instruction. Cockman believes that this gift is transformational for his program.