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                                                                    Exhibit 31.1

                    CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
                       PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
                             AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
                  SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

                  I, George B. Lemmon, Jr., certify that:

                  1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of
Owosso Corporation;

                  2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
report;

                  3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

                  4. I am responsible for establishing and maintaining
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e)
and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

                           a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures,
         or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
         my supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
         registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
         me by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
         which this report is being prepared;

                           b) Intentionally omitted pursuant to transition
         reporting permitted under SEC Release No. 33-8238.

                           c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's
         disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report my
         conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
         procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on
         such evaluation; and

                           d) Disclosed in this report any change in the
         registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred
         during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's
         fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
         materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect the
         registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

                  5. I have disclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of
internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the
audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing
the equivalent functions):

                           a) All significant deficiencies and material
         weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over
         financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
         registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
         information; and

                           b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
         management or other employees who have a significant role in the
         registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date:  September 9, 2003


                        /s/ George B. Lemmon, Jr.
                            --------------------------------------------------
                            George B. Lemmon, Jr.
                            President and Chief Executive Officer
                            (principal executive officer, principal
                            financial officer and principal accounting officer)