Haley Mullins awarded the Duty Owens Family Scholarship

The Duty Owens Family Scholarship, also known as the “D.O.” Scholarship, was found in 2011 by VeRonica R. Owens, an attorney in Keystone Heights, Florida, and the Duty and Owens families. The D.O. Scholarship started as a small seed that VeRonica and her family planted the year after she opened her private law practive in Keystone Heights, the goal of which was to honor her grandparents, Earnest and Frances Duty and Woodrow and Lena Owens, who reflected the grit and determination found in James 1:22, “Be ye doers of the Word.”

Haley Elizabeth Mullins, Clintwood, is the recipient for the 2021 Duty Owens Family Scholarship for Ridgeview High.

In its first year, the scholarship presented three awards at three Florida high schools, and over the last eleven years, the “D.O.” Scholarship has grown in its participation and reach. Members of the Duty and Owens families from Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Nebraska joined together to grow the fund and honor their living, thriving heritage of hard work, faith in Christ and dedication to future generations. They truly believe that they sit in the shades of trees planted long ago. As of 2021, VeRonica and her family have awarded over $50,000.00 in scholarships to 128 deserving seniors at seven Florida high schools and one Virginia high school, Ridgeview High School, located in the area where VeRonica’s parents, Ron and Rose Owens, grew up.

VeRonica was Keystone Heights High School’s class of 2002 salutatorian, and she went on to attend Florida State University and Florida Coastal School of Law. She is married to Peter Penrod, also an attorney and Chief of Staff for Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Paatronic, and they have four spirited children, Peter Lawrence II (age 7), Evangelena Sibailsa-Rose (age 5), Margarete Earnesta-Rose (age 4), and Francena Donnatella-Rose (age 2). Their fifth child is due this summer. In 2020, VeRonica partnered with Linda Wagner, an attorney from Melrose, Florida, and formed Owens & Wagner, P.A., which is proud to have offices in Melrose, Keystone Heights, and Middleburg, Florida.