Person Page

     Frank Ogdin was born on 12 July 1919 in Knoxville, Knox Co., Tennessee.^4,2 He married Alice Lee Bowditch, daughter of Roy Bowditch and Lucinda Banks Dunn, on 30 August 1940 at Fountain City Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Knox Co., Tennessee.¹ He died on 16 December 1981 at St. Mary's Medical Center in Knoxville, Knox Co., Tennessee, at age 62 after suffering a heart attack.⁵ He was buried on 19 December 1981 at Lynnhurst Cemetery in Knoxville, Knox Co., Tennessee.⁵
     He served in the U. S. Army during World War II, enlisting on 22 June 1944 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for four years.⁶
     He ran his father-in-law's firm Bowditch & Co. for several years, then joined Highland Products, a school and office supply company in Knoxville, where he was sales manager and vice president. He later worked as a buyer for the Fulton Sylphon Division of Robertshaw Controls before retiring in 1980.⁵
     He was a member and leader of several civic organizations in Fountain City. He was elected to the Fountain City Sanitation Committee (later the Fountain City Utilities Board), serving as chairman for several years. He served as president of both the Fountain City Business Men's Club and the Lions Club, as treasurer of the Fountain City Library Board, as a director of the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, and was active in the local Boy Scouts organization. He was also an elder and trustee at the Fountain City Presbyterian Church, and a director of Bachman Home, a Presbyterian orphanage in Cleveland, Bradley Co., Tennessee.⁵

     Charles David Wolff was born on 3 September 1919 in Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas.^3,2 He married Mary Lee Bowditch, daughter of Roy Bowditch and Lucinda Banks Dunn, on 10 January 1947 at the Fountain City Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Knox Co., Tennessee.¹ He died on 3 March 1982 at Ft. Sanders Hospital in Knoxville, Knox Co., Tennessee, at age 62.⁴ He was buried on 6 March 1982 at Lynnhurst Cemetery in Knoxville, Knox Co., Tennessee.⁴
     He graduated from Little Rock Junior College in Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas.¹
     He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, enlisting on 13 December 1942. He spent 22 months in the south Pacific, reached the rank of major, and was released on 15 January 1947.^5,1
     He worked as a car salesman for Morris-Bowling Ford, Garner Sam Ford, and Ronnie William Ford in Clinton, Anderson Co., Tennessee.⁴

     Elvie Bernice Hamrick was born on 7 July 1887 in Hinton, Pickens Co., Georgia. (Her death certificate lists the year as 1888, but the 1900 census and her cemetery marker both have 1887.)^4,5,1 She married Edwin Dennis Bowditch, son of Joseph Bowditch and Martha Elizabeth Anderson, on 1 August 1917 in Jasper, Pickens Co., Georgia.^6,2 She died on 6 January 1949 at Mission Hospital in Asheville, Buncombe Co., North Carolina, at age 61, after suffering a stroke two days earlier.¹ She was buried on 8 January 1949 at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.¹
     She went by her middle name Bernice.⁷
     She graduated in 1909 from Young Harris College in Young Harris, Towns Co., Georgia.³ After graduation she taught school in Georgia and North Carolina until her marriage in 1917, then continued, at least for a time, as a substitute teacher.³
     After their marriage she and her husband Edwin lived for a time with his parents in Bakersville Twp., Mitchell Co., North Carolina, and are listed with them there in the 1920 census.⁸ They later built their own home in Toecane, Bakersville Twp., where they are listed in the 1930 and 1940 censuses.^9,10
     Her husband's work often took him away from home, and while he was away she would maintain their farm, and followed his written instructions in directing the building of their house in Toecane in 1924-25.⁷ Her daughter Frances later described the kitchen in their house.

     She was viewed as a leader among the women in the community, and shared the produce from her large garden with families throughout the area. Together, she and Edwin led efforts to establish a Lord's Acre community garden, selling the output to raise money for local chuches.^12,13
     She and Edwin were also active as leaders and teachers in the Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Mitchell Co., and led the planning, building, and furnishing of a new church "with a larger sanctuary, classrooms, fellowship hall, and kitchen."³ Bricks for the church were paid for by Belk's Department Store, after Bernice appealed to the founder's wife for help funding its construction.¹¹

     Martha Frances Bowditch was born on 18 July 1918 in Marshall, Madison Co., North Carolina.^1,3 She married George Webb Garner, son of George Clark Garner and Georgia Ella Webb, on 9 June 1946 at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.^4,5 She died on 17 November 2004 at home in Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee, at age 86.⁶ She was buried on 20 November 2004 at Grandview Cemetery in Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee.⁶
     She went by her middle name Frances.⁷
     Her mother had been a teacher, and Frances was home-schooled until second grade. She then went to a two-room school in Loafer's Glory, Mitchell Co., North Carolina, for two years, and to Bowman Elementary in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., for grades 4-7.⁷
     Several of her memories from her childhood were recorded by her daughter Denice.⁷
     

• She was a voracious reader who would often hide in a clothing closet so she could read in private ... and avoid working, especially in the garden. When she was twelve years old, she fell (or jumped) from a grapevine swing and broke both arms. The rest of that summer, someone would have to sit beside Frances and turn the pages as she read.
• One day she was riding on the back of a horse behind her father. Her father said something which she did not clearly hear. When she leaned around him to see who might be coming down the road, they both tumbled off the horse as the saddle had not been tightly cinched.
• As a child, she remembered the first automobile she ever saw. She was walking on the road alone when she heard a strange noise which scared her. Having no idea what was coming, she ran off the road and hid in the bushes until the automobile passed.
• She remembers riding in a buggy with a horsehair lap robe.
• She remembers her grandfather Joseph Bowditch coming back from the doctor in Statesville with a doll for her in his saddlebag. He would sit on the bed and tell stories and then have Frances repeat them.
• Her grandmother Martha (Anderson) Bowditch was her first Sunday school teacher and she sat on the front pew in the church. Her grandmother's garden had poppies and she baked gooseberry pies.
• The night of December 24th the family always went to church for the Christmas program - stockings were either hung or put under the tree or on chairs.
• Her Uncle Jess and Aunt Maude (Bowditch) Johnson's house was a favorite place for people to gather and gossip. They had a radio when most people did not. Frances would go on Saturday nights, sometimes listening to The Grand Ole Opry. She did not care for the music, but she liked to stay, even though she had been told to come home after the mail ran. She went home with a switch in hand.
• When she was 9-10 years old she would meet the mailman down Dale Hill Road, near her Uncle Jess Johnson's store on Mine Creek Road, and give him butter to mail. The butter was sent by train from Toecane to customers in Spruce Pine 2-3 times a week.
• After her sister Miriam Elizabeth was born, Frances's mother was again able to take her to the outhouse at night or before bed, which pleased her.
• She and her sister Helen Katherine slept together and "snuggled up to stay warm" on cold nights. There were three beds in the downstairs back bedroom that used a coal stove or wood-burning fireplace to heat the space. Before bed they banked the fire so that the hot coals or embers would be there in the morning.
• She remembers seeing her mother wring chickens' necks to have meat for Sunday dinners. Her mother would use her egg money to buy additional chickens. She grew beans, potatoes and peas in her garden, and had a "doctor's book" of remedies from which Frances remembers her mother using a compress for a cough.

     She graduated on 1 May 1935 from Bowman High School in Bakersville at age 16, after the 11th grade (there was no 12th grade), then enrolled at Maryville College in Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee. In the summer of 1938, between her junior and senior years, she attended State Teachers College (now East Tennessee State University) in Johnson City, Washington Co., Tennessee. She graduated from Maryville College on 30 May 1939 with a bachelor's degree in history.⁷
     The following fall she began her teaching career at Bandana Elementary in Bandana, Mitchell Co., North Carolina, where she taught grades 1-3 for a year, then moved to Bowman High School, her alma mater, where she primarily taught social studies and English from 1941 to 1945.⁷
     At the same time she began work toward a master's degree in history at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Orange Co., also taking courses from Duke University in Durham, Durham Co., North Carolina. She graduated on 1 June 1943. Her thesis was titled The North Carolina Railroad Commission, 1891-1899.⁷
     During World War II she worked one summer in Washington, D.C., as a typist for the U. S. Navy. She was offered a permanent job with the Navy, but declined. She also worked in Washington in the summer of 1945, checking farm reports for the Census Bureau.⁷
     She taught civics and social studies at H. P. Harding High School in Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina, from 1945 to 1946, then moved to Everett High School in Maryville, Tennessee, where she taught English and social studies. She left there in 1951 to concentrate on raising her family.⁷
     She returned to teaching in 1970, teaching reading and serving as traveling librarian at Rush Strong Elementary and Binfield Elementary in Blount Co. She taught remedial reading under Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 at Forest Hill Elementary in Blount Co. from 1972 to 1984, and at Montvale Elementary in Maryville from 1984 to 1985.⁸ In August 1976 she was one of fourteen nominees for Blount County's representative in the state's 1977 Teacher-of-the-Year program. She retired on 12 June 1985 after 26 years of service.⁷

     Edwin Abbott Bowditch was born on 27 December 1920 in Bakersville Twp., Mitchell Co., North Carolina.⁴ He married Elizabeth McArthur McFarland, daughter of Malcolm McArthur McFarland and Elizabeth Belmont Overton, on 21 August 1948 at the Church of the Covenant in Manchester Twp., Cumberland Co., North Carolina.⁵ He died on 9 March 1994 at Grace Hospital in Morganton, Burke Co., North Carolina, at age 73 from a stroke.¹ He was buried at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.¹
     He majored in business education at North Carolina State College in Raleigh, and at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville⁶, where he was a member of the debate team in 1947.⁷ He also attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and Central Piedmont College in Charlotte, North Carolina.⁸
     During World War II he was living in Baltimore, Maryland, and working for the Glenn L. Martin aircraft company.⁹ He later managed the Bowditch Apple Orchard in Mitchell Co., North Carolina, for several years.⁸ He and his family moved to Valdese, Burke Co., North Carolina, in August 1967¹⁰, and he worked there as a mail clerk at Crestline Furniture.^8,1
     He and his wife Elizabeth were both active in the Waldensian Presbyterian Church of Valdese, and both were elected as ruling elders.⁸ On 21 April 1980 he was recognized by the governor for his work with the Yokefellow Prison Ministry at the Western Youth Institute in Morganton, and in 1991 was named his church's Man of the Year.⁸

     Miriam Elizabeth Bowditch was born on 9 March 1923 in Bakersville Twp., Mitchell Co., North Carolina.³ She died on 8 March 2007 at the Grace Ridge Retirement Center in Morganton, Burke Co., North Carolina, at age 83.⁴ She was buried on 11 March 2007 at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.⁴
     She graduated with honors from Maryville College in Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee, in 1945, majoring in religious education.^4,5,6 While at Maryville she was a member of the Student Volunteer Cabinet, the YWCA Cabinet, the Southern Regional Council of the YWCA, and the International Relations Club, and served as Bainonian Program co-chair.⁶ She earned a master's degree from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia, in 1947.^4,5 She later did post-graduate work in child development at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, from 1975 to 1976.⁴
     She served as director of Christian education at Presbyterian churches in Kannapolis, Raleigh, Wilson, and Greensboro, North Carolina, in Johnson City, Tennessee, and in Louisville, Kentucky, for 27 years. She also spent 10 years as director and teacher in the Foothills Mental Health Development Day Care Program for handicapped pre-school children in Lenoir, Taylorsville, and Morganton, North Carolina.⁴
     She lived in Morganton from July 1982 until her death, and was active there in the Presbyterian Church. She moved into the Grace Ridge Retirement Center in Morganton in June 1992.⁵
     She loved growing and arranging flowers, bird watching, star gazing, and collecting family history.⁴

     Helen Katherine Bowditch was born on 1 June 1925 in Bakersville Twp., Mitchell Co., North Carolina.¹ She married Robert Maxwell Runion, son of William Bert Runion and Lilly Lora Abigail Farnor, on 14 November 1954 at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina. This was a double wedding with the groom's sister Betty Lou Runion and Ernest Sanford Harris.^4,5 She died on 19 January 2013 at her home in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina, at age 87.² She was buried on 23 January 2013 at Bakersville Memorial Cemetery in Mitchell Co., North Carolina.²
     She graduated from Bowman High School in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.² After attending Montreat-Anderson College in Montreat, Buncombe Co., North Carolina, for a time, she graduated in 1947 from Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone, Watauga Co., North Carolina, with a degree in home economics and science. While there she was a member of the Home Economics Club, the Westminster Fellowship, the YWCA, and the White Hall Club.^6,7 She also studied textiles for a time at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.⁶ She taught school for 27 years in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, finishing her career at Gouge Elementary in Bakersville.^6,2
     After their marriage she and her husband Robert lived on a 160-acre farm in Pennsylvania.⁶ They moved back to North Carolina in January 1957 to take over the Bowditch Apple Orchard that had been started by Helen's father, then run for several years by her brother Edwin. They also raised cattle and grew Christmas trees, and as Frederick Tryon Bowditch could "enthusiastically testify," produced and marketed "very fine country hams." Helen served as the family company's bookkeeper.^6,8
     She was a member of the Retired Teachers Association², and the Roan Mountain Chapter of the Eastern Star in Bakersville, serving as Worthy Matron.⁶
     She and Robert were both ruling elders at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Mitchell Co.⁶, where she also taught Sunday School.²

     George Webb Garner was born on 24 March 1918 in Townsend, Blount Co., Tennessee.¹ He married Martha Frances Bowditch, daughter of Edwin Dennis Bowditch and Elvie Bernice Hamrick, on 9 June 1946 at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.^3,4 He died on 7 February 2005 at Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee, at age 86.⁵ He was buried with military honors on 10 February 2005 at Grandview Cemetery in Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee.⁵
     His parents divorced in 1927, and he and his older sister and younger brother were raised by his maternal grandparents, Murry Alexander Webb and Sarah Ella Dunn.⁶
     He attended Union Elementary School in Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee, and Townsend Elementary in Townsend, Blount Co., and graduated on 13 May 1937 from Townsend High School, where he was a star football player. He went on to study business and public administration at Maryville College in Maryville, Blount Co., accumulating 2 1/2 years of college credit between September 1937 and February 1941. He played on the school's football and baseball teams, and also played intramural basketball.⁶
     For a short time in 1937 he worked in the "pot room" at ALCOA in Alcoa, Blount Co., but left because the heat was overwhelming. While attending college he worked for his father's dry cleaning business, College Cleaners in Maryville, either full-time or part-time.⁶
     On 17 February 1941 he enlisted at Maryville in the Tennessee National Guard, Battery C, 191st Field Artillery Regiment. The regiment was mobilized as part of the Army a week later. He was stationed at Fort Sill near Lawton, Comanche Co., Oklahoma, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was on leave at the time, sitting in a drug store in Dallas, Texas, when he heard the news, and all leaves were immediately cancelled.
     His unit was sent to Europe, and in a 12 October 1944 letter to his father and stepmother he talked about watching soldiers vote in the 1944 presidential election while sitting in their foxholes. His unit crossed the Rhine River in Germany on 24 March 1945, his 27th birthday. On 7 April 1945 he witnessed the horrors at the Ohrdruf concentration camp, which had been liberated just three days earlier, saying that "the bodies were stacked up like cord wood."⁷
     When the war ended on 7 May 1945 he was near Asch, Czechoslovakia. He returned to the U.S. on 28 October 1945, and on 2 November was honorably discharged at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. He reached the rank of sergeant during his service, and was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Ribbon with four Bronze Stars for the campaigns of Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe, and Ardennes, plus the American Theater Ribbon, the American Defense Service Medal, and the Good Conduct Ribbon.⁶
     After the war he returned to his father's dry cleaning business in Maryville. After his father's death in 1962 he continued running the business until 1970, when he went into real estate sales. He worked with Bill Carringer Realty in Maryville until 1977, then with Burris Realty until his retirement in 1987.⁶

More Information / Background

• Ohrdruf concentration camp, Wikipedia.
  

     Elizabeth McArthur McFarland was born on 30 June 1918 in Manchester, Cumberland Co., North Carolina.^2,5 She married Edwin Abbott Bowditch, son of Edwin Dennis Bowditch and Elvie Bernice Hamrick, on 21 August 1948 at the Church of the Covenant in Manchester Twp., Cumberland Co., North Carolina.¹ She died on 6 March 2014 at home in Valdese, Burke Co., North Carolina, at age 95.² She was buried on 10 March 2014 at Vians Valley Presbyterian Cemetery in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.²
     She graduated from Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs, Robeson Co., North Carolina, with a bachelor's degree in math and science, then from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia, with a master's degree in bible studies. She later earned a certification in counseling from Appalachian State University in Boone, Watauga Co., North Carolina.⁴ While at Flora MacDonald she was on the hockey team all four years, the basketball team for three years, a member of the William Bartram Scientific Society and the Mathematics Club, and served as Prayer Band leader.⁶
     She was a schoolteacher and guidance counselor for 29 years, first in eastern North Carolina before her marriage, then in Mitchell Co. at Bowman and Tipton Hill High Schools, and in Burke Co. at Salem and Valdese High Schools. She was a guidance counselor at Valdese Jr. High when she retired in 1983. She also coached basketball and cheer leading.²
     She was active in church work wherever she lived, starting at the Church of the Covenant in Spring Lake, Cumberland Co., North Carolina, where she was married, then at Vians Valley Presbyterian Church in Mitchell Co., where she taught Sunday School. She served as district chair of Holston Presbytery for three years, and received an honorary life membership in 1952.² She and her husband Edwin were both active in the Waldensian Presbyterian Church of Valdese, and both were elected as ruling elders.⁴ After his death she continued his work with the Yokefellow Prison Ministry at the Western Youth Institute in Morganton.²