Pauline Owens, a retired elementary schoolteacher, died Thursday of complications of diabetes at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 76 and lived in North Baltimore.

Before her retirement 26 years ago, she taught at Alexander Hamilton and Elmer A. Henderson elementary schools and the former J.H. Lockerman Elementary School in Baltimore.

Born in Philadelphia and raised in East Baltimore, Pauline Kendrick McDonald was a 1942 graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. In 1946, she earned a degree from what is now Coppin State College. She also earned a master's degree from New York University.

An avid pinochle player, she belonged to two card clubs, the Suavettes and a group of retirees who called themselves "Free at Last," or FALs.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Lochearn Presbyterian Church, 3800 Patterson Ave.

Survivors include her husband of 53 years, Arvel Owens; a son, Dr. Roland Owens of Arlington, Va.; a daughter, Paula Owens-Ashby of Woodlawn; a brother, Thaddeus McDonald of Baltimore; a sister, Edna Alston of Baltimore; and a grandson.