Music teacher earned Purple Heart in WWII

3/19/2004

PORT CLINTON - R. Glenn Redmond, 81, an educator for more than 32 years, died yesterday in Medical College of Ohio Hospitals, Toledo, of complications from surgery for a perforated ulcer .

Mr. Redmond had been in failing health for many years and lived with the help of a pacemaker, his son Bob said.

Mr. Redmond was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Bougainville Island in the Pacific Ocean, southeast of Japan. There, after only about a month, he was injured by a grenade and sent home. "That's how he got his Purple Heart," his son said. "He then spent 18 months in various hospitals - much of the time in a body cast."

Mr. Redmond returned to Ohio and continued to recover in Crile Hospital in Cleveland. There he met Betty Aring, who was at the hospital visiting friends. The two were married on June 15, 1946, in Youngstown.

After recovering from his injuries - despite a limp he had for the rest of his life - Mr. Redmond returned to Muskingum College to study music. He graduated in 1948 and began his career as a music teacher at the Danbury Local School District.

Although music remained Mr. Redmond's passion, he decided to earn a master's degree in education from Bowling Green State University, where he was a 1959 graduate. He began teaching sixth grade in the Port Clinton City School District and was then named principal of Jefferson Elementary, a position he held for seven years, his son said.

Deciding that he'd rather spend time in the classroom, Mr. Redmond returned to teaching and ended his career in 1979 teaching history and English at Port Clinton Junior High School.

"He was always teaching us and, after we were grown and gone, he would teach the children in the neighborhood," Ms. Roberts said.

After retirement, Mr. Redmond turned once again to music. An organist, Mr. Redmond became the choir director for Methodist churches. Before his death, he was a member of Peace Lutheran Church in Port Clinton. He also loved camping, his son said, and often took his family on cross-country trips.

Surviving are his wife of 57 years, Betty; daughters, Jeanne Long and Barb Roberts; sons, Bob and John; sister, Donna Dawson, and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the Gerner-Wolf-Brossia-Marsh Funeral Home, Port Clinton, with visitation after 4 p.m. Monday.

The family suggests tributes to Peace Lutheran Church.