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James Lawrence Owens (31 December 1898 – xx November 1960) was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1955 until his death in 1960.

Early life
Lawrence, as he was familiarly known, was born in Benkelman, Nebraska, to Edwin Ellsworth and Annie xxx Owens (nee Hamilton). In 1900 he immigrated with his parents and infant brother, Sheldon, to a homestead east of Ponoka, Alberta. He attended Mecca Glen rural school, completing Grade 8 at age 14. From then until 1925 he worked on his family farm. In 1925 the Owens' sold the farm and moved to the west coast of British Columbia. For the next five years Lawrence worked in various jobs in the lumber, coal and transportation industries in the Vancouver and Seattle areas.

In 1930 Ed Owens and his three sons, (Lawrence, Sheldon and Wilfred), returned to the agricultural life by purchasing a large farm west of Carstairs, Alberta. Lawrence continued to farm at this location until his death except for a brief period during the Second World war working as a machinist manufacturing armaments at the CPR shop in Calgary.

Lawrence remained a lifelong bachelor.

Political career
Owens was first elected to the Alberta Legislature in the 1955 Alberta general election. He defeated Coalition Party candidate Ben Brown by a few hundred votes in a hotly contested two way race to win his first term in office. Owens was easily re-elected to his second term in the 1959 Alberta general election winning a big plurality over Douglas Munn of the Progressive Conservatives. He died less than a year later in 1960.