Former school board member Owen Ditchfield dies

Former Muscogee County School Board member Owen Ditchfield 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 service 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 the Vietnam War. 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.

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.

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

Funeral arrangements haven’t been announced.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Former school board member Owen Ditchfield dies."