Retired teacher was active volunteer

9/16/2001

FINDLAY - Norma Mildred Hogle, a retired teacher who was honored as Hancock County's Senior Citizen of the Year in 1980, died Friday at Winebrenner Village nursing home in Findlay. She was 95.

Mrs. Hogle of Findlay was a graduate of the former Hamler High School. She attended Findlay College and Manchester College and received a teaching certificate from Bowling Green State University.

She taught four years at Hamler High School and one year at Bigelow Hill Elementary School in Findlay before teaching second grade for 21 years at Van Buren Elementary School.

“She loved kids, and they learned under her very well,” her friend, Lenard Wagner, said.

Mrs. Hogle married Harry Beckford in 1937 and lived with him on a farm near Van Buren until his death in 1953.

The couple opened their home to troubled boys from the Toledo area, inviting them to live on the farm. A total of 26 boys stayed on the farm over the years. Usually, three or four lived on the farm at one time.

After Mr. Beckford passed away, Mrs. Hogle moved into Van Buren and married Ivan Hogle in 1954. He died in 1977.

After her retirement from teaching in 1970, Mrs. Hogle was a volunteer for a variety of organizations.

“She was a great lady who devoted all of her strength and time to other people,” her friend, Margaret Singer, said.

She helped with Red Cross blood drives, delivered Meals on Wheels, and volunteered for odd jobs at the Hancock County Senior Citizens Center and Winebrenner Haven in Findlay.

Mrs. Hogle was an active member of First United Brethren Church in Findlay. She often sold tickets for church fund-raisers.

“If the church doors were open, she was in the church. She was a good Christian woman,” Ms. Singer said.

She was a member of a local senior citizens' group, and served as president of the organization in 1987.

Mrs. Hogle loved to make lap quilts that she often gave to people at the senior center or donated to Chopin Hall, a nonprofit group in Findlay. In the past year, Mrs. Hogle donated almost 50 small quilts to Chopin Hall.

She loved dogs and watching sports, especially Cleveland Indians baseball.

“She could always find time to watch a ballgame on TV,” friend Barbara Wagner said.

There are no immediate survivors.

The body will be in the Coldren-Crates Funeral Home after 2 p.m. today. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in First United Brethren Church, where the body will be an hour before the service.

It is requested that tributes be to First United Brethren Church.