OGDEN, Dennis

Kingman Daily Miner, Kingman, AZ - Published on August 7, 2012 - He led a varied life. Dennis Ogden, a Kingman resident for the past five years, and a 21-year Arizona resident, passed away in the early morning hours on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012 Dennis was born in Lancashire, England, on July 17, 1932. He was raised and educated in England until the age of 17. At 17 he emigrated to Canada where he farmed and worked at the factory that build the AVRO Arrow aircraft. When AVRO closed in 1959 Dennis sold up his farm and in January crossed the border into the USA. Three weeks later he joined the U.S. Army. He served 20 years in the U.S. army, retiring as a master sergeant. For most of his military career he was an explosive ordnance disposal specialist. He served in Vietnam and in support of the U.S. Secret Service for presidents and vice-presidents. He earned a Bronze Star, two Army commendation medals and several other service awards. Early in his military career he met and married his wife Ruth - they have now been married for 46 years. They were blessed with two sons and a daughter, two grandsons and two granddaughters. After the Army, Dennis, Ruth and the three children homesteaded 40 acres in Eastern Washington, where they practiced organic farming and produced most of their own food. When the youngest of the children left home to join the Army, Dennis and Ruth grew a little bored with just living alone, so they joined the U.S. Peace Corps. They served three years in Guatemala teaching vegetable production in remote villages to indigenous Mayan Indian farmers. After the Peace Corps, Dennis and Ruth wandered up and down the West Coast in an RV, working, among other things, as manager of a home for seniors, a home for troubled teenagers, a manager at a fishing resort, and managing a motel. For three years, starting in 1991, they managed a motel in Meadview. While in Meadview they shopped around for land to build an RV park. In 1995 their Meadview RV park opened. In 2005, bad health caused them to sell the RV park and move to Kingman. For the last few years Dennis has puttered around, doing carpentry and writing eight books in a variety of genres. Dennis is survived by his wife Ruth; children, Jamie, Carole and William; sister, Norma Upton; and grandchildren, Dillon, Dalton, Kira and Kate; plus numerous nephews and nieces.