Ogden, Bartley G. 1904-2003

OGDEN, CORNISH, AHRENHOLTZ

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 4/18/2009 at 18:50:47

ODEBOLT, Iowa -- Bartley Glen Ogden, 99, of Odebolt passed away Monday, Dec. 22, 2003, at Odebolt Nursing and Rehab Center.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church in Odebolt. Burial will be in Odebolt Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Farber and Otteman Funeral Home in Odebolt.

Bart was born May 4, 1904, near Akron, Iowa. He attended a rural school in Plymouth County, Iowa, and graduated from Akron High School in May 1924. He received his two-year certificate from Iowa State Teachers College (U.N.I.) in 1929 and his bachelor of art degree in 1933. He earned his master's degree in 1940 at the University of Iowa and completed additional graduate work at Iowa State University. He taught rural school in Plymouth County, Craig and Chatsworth, Iowa, and was school superintendent at Alvord, Fairview, Schaller and Odebolt, Iowa.

On June 5, 1929, he married Bernice Cornish at the Little Brown Church. In 1944 they moved to Odebolt, where he was school superintendent until 1969, when he retired. He then became Sac County superintendent from 1969 to 1973. During his years as superintendent in Odebolt, the school was reorganized to become Odebolt-Arthur School and a new school was built. The Bart Ogden Gymnasium was dedicated to him in appreciation for his contribution to the school.

On Aug. 14, 1990, he married Manie Ahrenholtz.

He served on the Iowa Girl's High School Athletic Association Board in the 1950s, and in 1961 was one of 10 individuals in the United States to receive the I.S.T.C. award for his outstanding work as a pioneer in the field of school reorganization. He also was awarded a special citation for his contribution to the Maple Valley Conference, and an award for helping start the Fort Dodge Community College. For several years, he was a counselor for Iowa Boys State.

He was very active in the community and at First Presbyterian Church. He had been a member of the Odebolt Rotary Club since 1944, when he brought the charter to Odebolt. He also served on the library board, the low-rent housing board and was instrumental in organizing and building the identification board at the Odebolt Cemetery.

He leaves to mourn his wife, Manie of Odebolt; a daughter and her husband, Janet and Ken Fertig of Sheldon, Iowa; two sons, Vern Ogden and his wife, Gayle of Granbury, Texas, and Kent Ogden of Las Vegas, Nev.; a son-in-law, Charles Mandernach of Dallas, Texas; a stepson, Donald Ahrenholtz and Becki Jarvela of Lacy, Wash.; a brother and his wife, Gene and Roberta Ogden of Springfield, Va.; eight grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; four stepgrandchildren; nine great-stepgrandchildren; and a great-great-stepgrandchild.

~Source: The Sioux City Journal, part of the Darrell E. Obituary Collection