Former school board member Owen Ditchfield dies

Former Muscogee County School Board member Owen Ditchfield, an advocate for south Columbus, a retired Fort Benning educator and a Vietnam War hero, died Wednesday in Gentiva Hospice. He was 76.

Ditchfield’s wife of 53 years, Mabel, told the Ledger-Enquirer he was diagnosed with bladder cancer last fall.

“This has really happened fast,” she said by telephone from the hospice. “It was certainly quicker than we expected, but the doctor told me it was an aggressive cancer.”

Ditchfield represented District 7 for one term on the school board. He unseated incumbent Barbara Pierce in 2000, then lost to the Rev. Joe Roberson, his friend and neighbor, in 2004. Ditchfield again was a candidate in 2014, when he ran for the nine-member board’s lone countywide seat, but he and former NAACP Columbus chapter president Nate Sanderson lost the three-way election to real estate company owner and former teacher Kia Chambers.

Ditchfield’s community involvement was extensive. He was president of South Columbus Concerned Citizens and served on the Muscogee County Library Board and the Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation.

Saturday mornings, he was known as “The Pepper Man” while selling vegetables from his organic garden at Uptown Market Days on Broadway. And during the Christmas season, he was known as the train conductor who punched “golden tickets” before the annual showing of “The Polar Express” in the IMAX Theatre at the National Infantry Museum, where he volunteered as a docent.

The U.S. Army was dear to him. During his 10 years of service, he was a captain and did two tours of duty in Vietnam. He also was an educator for 37 years in Fort Benning schools. He taught English at Faith Middle School and fifth grade at Loyd Elementary School and was a media specialist at E.A. White Elementary School. Then in retirement, he continued to make a positive impact on post by teaching gardening to second-grade classes.

The former Muscogee County School Board members the Ledger-Enquirer interviewed Wednesday fondly remembered Ditchfield.

Brenda Storey, who represented District 6 for 17 years (1993-2010), called Ditchfield “an honorable and God-fearing man. He served valiantly in the Army, and he served passionately in this community.”

While accompanying her mother during a recent appointment at the John B. Amos Cancer Center, Storey was touched that Ditchfield stopped to greet them after his chemotherapy session.

“He told me about his battle, but he was still going for a walk and then to a meeting, and he was his usual caring and gentlemanly self,” said Storey, a retired SunTrust vice president. “He said he was going to be OK.”

Storey paused. Then, through a strained voice, she continued.

“It is a great loss,” she said. “It’s a great loss for this community. He had such an ability to see things from both sides but also to make his own decision and to be a man of his word. … He was a good man. A lot of people would do well to strive to emulate him.”

Retired urologist Philip Schley, who served on the board for 21 years (1972-81 and 1998-2010, including chairman from 2008-10), recruited Ditchfield, one of his patients, to run in 2000. Schley respected Ditchfield’s judgment and saw his way of bridging racial divides, a white man who could be elected in a predominantly black district.

“He is the only person I know in the South who was absolutely color blind,” said Schley, of District 8. “When he saw someone, it didn’t register black or white to him; that was a person to him.”

Such bravery was evident in a different way on a hilltop in Vietnam. Schley told the story of Ditchfield holding that position while “every single man in his company was either dead or wounded, Owen among them.”

That’s why Schley concluded Ditchfield was “a true hero in real terms of military combat and a hero in how he dealt with problems in Columbus, Georgia.”

Even a former board member with whom he sometimes disagreed, Fife Whiteside, spoke highly of Ditchfield.

“Owen was as dedicated as the days are long,” said Whiteside, an attorney. “He worked hard at his school board service, and his heart always was in the right place.”

Whiteside, who represented District 5 on the board for 15 years (1993-2008), described Ditchfield as somebody who could be intense and laid-back at the same time. For example, during heated discussions, he often would break out in song.

“He was trying to make a point he felt strongly about,” Whiteside said, “but he did it in a gentle way.”

Mary Sue Polleys, the former countywide representative who chaired the board for 13 years (1993-2006) and retired as director of the Servant Leadership Program at Columbus State University, told the L-E in a voicemail, “The city is a better place since Owen decided to stay here. He made such an impact in so many directions. His service on the school board was characterized by selfless generosity and hard work. Nobody worked harder than Owen, keeping up with the schools and keeping up with the children and teachers and encouraging everybody. He gave it absolutely his all.”

Ditchfield was born in Evanston, Ill., and raised in Redlands, Calif. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Montana State University, where he met Mabel.

Along with his wife, survivors include sons Andrew (wife Susan) and Brian (wife Tracy), daughters Carol McCort and Dora Ditchfield and nine grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements haven’t been announced.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Former school board member Owen Ditchfield dies."