| START | Ogden |
Jesse Switzer Ogden
| Husband: Jesse Switzer OGDEN Occup: College teacher Father: Horace Greeley OGDEN Mother: Katherine Gertrude "Kitty" MIKELS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wife: Helen GREEN Died: 1940 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ M Child 1 Horace Greeley "Hod" OGDEN died at age: 72 Born: 1926 in Rochester, Monroe Co., NY Died: 3 Jan 1998 in Falls Church, VA Ref: 1001: Health educator Spouse: Ruth Spouse: Elaine Celia CONDRELL Married: abt 1954 Died of emphysema; was a lifetime smoker. In US Navy in WWII Graduated DePauw Univ., M.A. (education) from Auburn Univ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wife: Jean |
|
A TRIBUTE TO JESS OGDEN BY HOWARD McCLU SKY |
|
|
In the death of Jess Ogden on February 20, 1958, adult education in the U.S.A. lost one of its most colorful and beloved leaders. Born December 5, 1894,
in
Rockland, Massachusetts, he graduated from Allegheny College and pursued advanced studies at the University of Rochester and New York University.
His service as a lieutenant of infantry
in
World War I was followed by work as an industrial relations consultant, and successive experiences as playwright, actor and teacher of high school dramatics and English. This variety of background set the stage for a distinguished career
in
adult education.
In a more explicit sense his role as adult educator began at Hull House in Chicago. It continued as a field representative of the American Association for Adult Education, and culminated in his directorship of Community Services at the University of Virginia, a position which he undertook under an initial subsidy from the General Education Board, and which he held from 1941 until his death.
It is in the last mentioned capacity that he will be best remembered as an effective and devoted practitioner of adult education. It
was
at the University of Virginia where, in collaboration with his talented wife, Jean Carter Ogden, he gave convincing substance to the concept of community self help as an authentic form of adult
education.
|
The
New Dominion Series
of pamphlets, and the books,
Small Communities in Action
and
These Things We Tried,
as well as numerous articles, constitute the published record of an historic venture in helping adults take an educative approach to the improvement of their communities.
As a result of their work in Virginia, he and Mrs. Ogden were invited by the University of London in 1953 to assist with programs of community development in West Africa and were selected to receive the first Delbert Clark award in adult education.
But Jess Ogden will be remembered as much for the attractiveness of his personality as for the craftsmanship of his professional work. Above all he was a fine human being. Thoroughly self- accepting and equally accepting of others, he indulged in no pretensions of his own and he was quick to see through (though kindly) the pretensions of others. Those who were privileged to know him will recall, with a little glow, his folk songs, and
guitar,
his unfailing sense of humor and his undisguised respect for people regardless of their status.
He lived out his years, in fact, to within hours of his passing, active in the service of the cause he loved. He will long be remembered as the happy troubadour on the frontier of community adult education.
|