Born in Utica, New York, on January 25, 1933,[1][2] Owen attended Westminster Choir College, studying organ and receiving a bachelor's degree in music in 1955.

[1][2] She achieved a master's degree in musicology from Boston University in 1962 where she had studied with Karl Geiringer.

[4] Her scholarship in the field of organ music led to numerous prizes, such as a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1974–75); the Westminster Choir College Alumni Citation of Merit (1988);[2] the Organ Historical Society Distinguished Service Award (1988); the American Musical Instrument Society Curt Sachs Award (1994);[1][2] and the AGO Organ Library Max Miller Book Award (2009).

[2] A collection of nineteenth-century hymnals donated by Owen is owned by the School of Theology Library at Boston University.

[10] Owen died at Masconomet Healthcare in Topsfield, where she was a patient after breaking her hip, on October 14, 2024, at the age of 91.