Kay Owens retired.
After 41 years as an educator, she called it a day.
Felt she’d seen it, done it, been there.
It was rumored that she could turn anyone into a singer or, at the very least, help you carry a tune, like those Pentatonix kids she taught. However, knowing my melodic limitations, I didn’t necessarily believe that.
I’d met Owens a few times while writing stories for Arlington ISD’s Communications; she’d served as Martin High’s spirited choir instructor for 26 years.
My assignment was to dissect Martin’s music department to understand why it had been so successful for so long. The more I dug, the more her name came up.
Kay Owens this. Kay Owens that.
I recall her working with a student who lacked confidence once; a year later, he knocked out a solo during a big concert.
When I heard of her retirement, I emailed Anthony Andro, AISD’s communications manager, asking what special was being done for Owens.
Nothing in particular, he told me. “We’re treating it like any other retirement.”
I get it. Don’t show favoritism over the slew of other AISD retirees who might have put in just as much time.
Yet those of us who have been around Martin (my daughter is a grad) know Owens’ retirement wasn’t just any other retirement.
Now everyone else knows that, too. 
On April 19, Good Morning America reporters Gio Benitez and Will Ganss showed up at Martin with a camera crew in tow. They burst into the music room, where Owens was in mid-class. They whisked her away in a This-Is-Your-Life scenario, live, on national television.
Owens was part of GMA’s “Ray of Sunshine” segment, which focuses on people who are uplifting their communities.
I’m not sure how these human-interest stories are uncovered, but it helps that Ganss, who has climbed the ladder as a reporter and producer for ABC News, is a former Owens student.
“What I’d like everyone to know about Mama O, as we call her, is that life has not been easy for her,” Ganss said. “Yet her choir room, this auditorium, is filled with so much love, so much joy, all the time. She just didn’t teach us how to sing. She taught us how to be wonderful human beings.”
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross emerged on camera, handing her a proclamation (“Kay Owens Day,”). She was followed by two of the Martin trio of Pentatonix performers, Kirstin Maldonado and Scott Hoying.
“She created an environment that made us feel comfortable in what we were doing,” Hoying said, “which kind of gave us the push we needed.”
Maldonado, who sprinted across the floor to give Owens a bear hug, confessed to not being the most self-assured or most assertive person in high school.
“If it weren’t for her belief in me,” Maldonado confessed, “I would not have been able to accomplish everything I did.”
I’d heard that time and again. “She brought me out of my shell.” “She gave me the confidence I needed.” “She believed in me when few did.”
Teachers like Owens change lives, although she said, “We don’t think about changing lives. We’re just rehearsing.”
She told GMA about connecting with students and making them feel like they have a home and a safe place. 
“A lot of them would be here every day at lunch,” Owens said, looking over at a smiling Ganss. “It’s just about hopefully teaching them life lessons.”
One person changing many lives is referred to as “the butterfly effect,”
Sometimes, seeing the change is hard when you’re in the trenches.
When Benitez referred to Owens as “a legend, a local celebrity,” Owens seemed to bristle at the thought.
“I don’t know that,” she said. “I’m just a choir director.”
Hardly.
Kenneth Perkins has been a contributing writer for Arlington Today for nearly a decade. He is a freelance writer, editor and photographer.
