ELSMERE, Ky. — A northern Kentucky family made history on Tuesday, while also celebrating generations of dedication to service.

What You Need To Know

  • A northern Kentucky wife, her husband, and her mother were each sworn into offices they were elected for

  • The family says it has a history of public service in the region

  • They also made history, becoming some of the first African Americans elected into their respective positions

  • They highlighted access to transportation as one of the key issues they want to address

Serena Owen, her husband Larry Owen, and Serena’s mother, Renee Wilson, stood together at Billy Bradford Park in Elsmere while each of them was sworn into the respective office they had recently been elected for.

“It was a blessing. We’re really grateful. We all have been called,” Serena Owen said.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise given the family’s history of service, but this wife-husband-mother trio made some history of their own.

According to the family, Wilson is the first person of color to be elected to the Erlanger City Council. Serena Owen, who was the first person of color elected to the Erlanger-Elsmere School Board in 2020, is the first woman of color elected to serve on the Elsmere City Council. And Larry Owen is the first African American to be elected to the Kenton County Soil and Water Conservation District Board.

Collectively, the three have dedicated nearly 100 years of service in Kentucky and greater Cincinnati communities as Commonwealth Ambassadors, educators, mentors, church Deacon/Deaconess, community outreach organizers, and activists. That includes the work they do currently, partnering with local organizations to help feed over 500 people each month.

Their campaigns were endorsed by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, one of the largest social justice organizations in the state.

“We’ve been workers in the community even before being elected,” Wilson said.

Serena Owen said she first started getting involved in the community when she was just 7 years old.

“I’m really grateful for my mother and those who came before me,” she said. “My grandmother used to go down to Frankfort and advocate for education.”

This will be Larry Owen’s first elected position. Owen, who is a U.S. Marine veteran and retired teacher, said he’s going to “go with the flow.”

“I’m just excited to get in there and learn about the job,” he said. “Whatever I can do for the community through my position, that’s what I’ll do. That’s what I’m there for.”

The location of their swearing in, Billy Bradford Park, was also fitting. Bradford, who passed away earlier in 2022, was the first African American mayor in northern Kentucky.

“He was like a mentor to me, and a role model. Folks would often ask, ‘Serena, when are you going to run for office?’ And I’d say, ‘when God calls me.’ And one day my telephone rang,” Serena Owen said.

The voice on the phone wasn’t that of God, exactly, but her mentor, Bradford.

“And he said you need to run for office,” she said. “If he were here with us, he’d be very proud.”

Providing more accessible transportation and public safety are goals for both Owen and her mother, Wilson. They say, above all else, they want to continue to serve their communities as they have been going back well before those communities elected them.

“Now that we’re leaders, we want folks to know we’re accessible,” Owen said.

“I just want the community to know that they do have a voice through me,” Wilson said.

The family says it was the 2010 Midwest Black Family Reunion Family of the Year, Northern Kentucky University’s 2013 Family of the Year, and received Recognition of Volunteerism Service from Gov. Steven Beshear.