Video: Remembering “Mr. B.”

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Before there was “Futurecast” and interactive radar, before there were “Skycams” and personalized forecasts, before Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, there was Meteorologist Bryan Owings.

That’s how we knew him. Standing at the weather map. Through good weather and bad.

For more than 24 years, WCBI Chief Meteorologist Bryan Owings stood between the viewers and the elements.

He got his start in TV while still active duty with the Air Force.  Several years ago, Owings remembered driving back and forth between the station and the base. “Fortunately when I went to work at WCBI, I was still in the Air Force. So I would get my information ready to go to the TV station and go out there and make up my maps with information I had brought from the air base. I’d do the 6:00 and then I’d go back out the air base and update my material.”

WCBI General Manager Derek Rogers says WCBI was very fortunate to have Owings. “He was a meteorologist at a time when most TV stations had weather men.”

Owings was a small town boy, born and raised in Amory. He married Joanne Kendall, the love of his life in 1954. And, that’s when the adventure began.

As a meteorologist for the Air Force, Bryan traveled the world. He served in Greenland, Thailand, Vietnam, and Okinawa among others, tracking typhoons and weather patterns during his time in the service.

Bryan was modest and unassuming. But his expertise and skill was acknowledged through numerous medals and accommodations. We’re telling you that, because it wouldn’t occur to him to mention all the medals.

“The TV station spent a lot of money to bring in some folks to do some research,” says former News Director Jeffrey Rupp, “and the result – of all the people, on any station in our area, the most trusted person was Bryan Owings, our Mr. B.”

It was during this “second act” of his career that Owings covered tornados, ice storms and hurricanes as the Chief at WCBI. His superior forecasting skills, calming presence and down-home delivery earned him respect from his peers and the loyalty of viewers.

This year, Owings was inducted into Mississippi Broadcast Hall of Fame. Another well deserved honor.

Willis Bryan Owings – our Mr. B. Was 82.

Bryan is survived by his wife of 61 years Joanne Kendall Owings of Columbus, MS; sons- Willis Bryan Owings, Jr., Dan Bartley Owings, and Bruce Kendall Owings, one grandchild- Emily Owings and his sister- Charlotte Moore.

Memorials may be sent to Uncle Bunky’s Children in care of Woodland Baptist Church.

*Photographs courtesy of the Owings family