BELCHERTOWN (MA) Roy Wentworth Owen, 82, of Jon Drive passed away peacefully at his home September 24 after a sustained battle with heart and kidney disease.

Born in Norwood, MA, May 4, 1939, to the late Alice (Wentworth) and Roger Owen, Roy was a 1957 graduate of Amherst Regional High School and known for his love of automobiles especially his “Merc.” He was a skilled truck driver who spent the last two decades of his life collecting antique International Farmall tractors and attending his granddaughters’ athletic events. He participated in tractor pulls across New England and was highly awarded, filling his house and garage with hundreds of first place trophies and ribbons. He even competed at the Southern National pulls in Mississippi. Roy’s last pull appearance was early August 2021 at the Cheshire Fair in NH where he was honored both for his years of participation and for his warmth and friendship to many.

Roy and his former wife, Judith Farrar, co-owned Owen’s Poultry Farm in Amherst during the 1970s and 80s, providing homemade chicken pies and roasted turkeys for twenty plus years to the local community. Roy could bone chicken breasts in seconds, knife flashing, while he chatted with family and employees. The farm always held a Thanksgiving eve pizza party; Roy and Judy answered the phone long into the night for customers who had a turkey or pie emergency. 

The farm had chickens of course but Roy collected many other animals over the years—appaloosas, goats, a herd of Scottish highland cattle, and many dog companions. He could charm any animal, rode horses confidently, and loved his cows even when their horns poked him occasionally.

But Roy’s first and last love was engines and vehicles —cars, trucks, motorcycles, and tractors. He returned to truck driving in the late 1980s and drove a concrete mixer truck for decades until he partially retired. He was always in demand especially if the hauling job involved backing a truck down a narrow drive at the edge of a precipitous drop. Roy was a proud lifelong member of Teamsters – Local 404.

As a side hobby Roy lovingly restored a 1953 Mercury, very similar to his high school vehicle, and drove it in parades or to Tom’s Hot Dogs on sunny days. And then he added Farmall tractors to his collection; his favorite, the 1206, was powerful and perfectly polished and won a small mountain of trophies. 

Roy retired in July 2020 and not necessarily willingly.  In January 2021 he renewed his commercial driver’s license and intended to work again.

Roy leaves behind his son, Robert Warren Owen of Alexandria, VA; his daughter, Deborah Owen Doulette and son-in-law Glenn of South Deerfield, MA; and his “favorite girls,” granddaughters Charlotte Joan Doulette and Lucia Owen Doulette; his sisters Dorothy Owen Glazier (ME), Ruth Owen Jones (MA), Marjorie Owen White (CA), Peg Owen DiGiammarino (CA); and his former wife Judith Farrar (MA); as well as supportive niece Felicia Farrar (MA) and her family. He is also survived by his tractor-pulling family in Haverhill, MA; his Amherst High School friends; his at-home caregiver Brenda; and countless other valued connections from Crystal River, FL to San Francisco, CA, and from Westmoreland, NH to Nantucket, MA.   

All funeral services will be private, but a celebration of life event is planned for Spring 2022.  In lieu of flowers, donations in Roy’s name may be made to either Friends of the Belchertown Fair, Inc.  FriendsofBtownfair@gmail.com; or New England IH Collectors Chapter #18, 201 Oak Street, Franklin, MA 02038.