Ex-autoworker a councilman for Millbury

11/10/2005

MILLBURY - Ned R. "Jingles" Bordner, a longtime worker at what is now the General Motors Toledo Powertrain Plant who was elected to Millbury Village Council in 2003 - the year after he moved into the Wood County town - died Monday at home of lung cancer. He was 67.

Because of his illness, he was last able to attend a council meeting in August and submitted his resignation about a week ago, his daughter Jennifer Overmyer said. His term would have expired at the end of 2007.

Mr. Bordner and his wife, Marian, lived on Colburn Street in South Toledo for many years but built a home in Millbury about three years ago. He decided early on to become involved and won a seat on council.

"It showed he wanted to take an interest in his new community," Mayor Michael Timmons said.

Mr. Bordner looked forward to the meetings, where he might stir up a debate, his daughter said. "Even though he was not feeling well, he'd drag himself" to meetings, his daughter said. "He was the newcomer with fresh ideas."

Mr. Timmons, Millbury's mayor since 1980, said Mr. Bordner "brought a different perspective to things. He was more apt to question things he wasn't familiar with because he hadn't been around. He liked to pay attention to the details."

Mr. Bordner retired in 1993 from what had been the GM Hydramatic plant on Alexis Road. He belonged to Local 14 of the United Auto Workers and, in his last 17 years at the plant, he was a union benefits representative.

"He was good at arguing. He should have been a lawyer," his daughter said. "He liked people. He believed that the workers should get what they deserve - better working conditions, better pay, better health benefits."

Mr. Bordner got his nickname from a co-worker who picked on him for the jingle made by the change in his pockets. Soon, he wasn't known as Ned.

"All they called him was 'Jingles,'●" his daughter said.

The son of Arnold and Collette Bordner, he grew up in South Toledo and was a graduate of Libbey High School. He was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War, during which he was stationed in Libya.

He took an annual fishing trip to Minnesota and liked to barbecue ribs on the grill. He was a fan of bluegrass and country music; George Jones, George Strait, and Alison Krauss were favorites.

He was known for his generosity. Years ago, street people would wait outside the bank for his weekly visit, and he gave them money when he came out.

"He had an aggressive personality, but he was very giving," his daughter said. "He helped elderly people who didn't drive and [would] take them to the store or deliver food to them. A lot of time, he didn't ask if he saw a need."

Surviving are his wife, Marian, whom he married May 1, 1964; daughters, Jennifer Overmyer and Jodi Bordner; son, Kevin Bordner; brothers, Tom and Kane Bordner; sister, Helen Michalak; three granddaughters, and a great-grandson.

Services will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the Sujkowski Funeral Home of Rossford, where the body will be after 2 p.m. today.

The family suggests tributes to the Hospice of Northwest Ohio or the American Cancer Society.