Elinor Ketting Ogden died from cancer on December 10, 2021. The daughter of Edward Ogden Ketting (1898-1968) and Elinor Farwell Ketting (1905-1992), she was born on May 17, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois.
She lived at Headacres, the family’s farm, in Libertyville and graduated high school from St. Timothy’s School in Stevenson, Maryland. Following in her mother’s footsteps, she enrolled at Vassar College and received a BA in English in 1956. After Vassar, she worked in radio and television for CBS and ABC in Chicago and New York City.
She met her husband of 58 years, William Frederick Ogden Jr., in New York City. They married on June 11, 1960, and moved to suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1962. In addition to raising three children, she employed her skills, kindness, and good humor working for the Washburn Child Guidance Center and The Bookcase, as well as volunteering for the Ripley Foundation, Young People’s Symphony Concert Association, Council on Foundations’ Advisory Committee (to form the Women’s Foundation), indigent tax preparation, mediation services, and client intake for Interfaith Outreach Community Partners.
Her love of the outdoors, reading and traveling was shared by her husband. Together they created Eagle Rock Reserve, an open space residential development in Bozeman, Montana. A generous philanthropist, she donated both time and financial resources to a myriad of causes. She spent her final months in her Bozeman home with family.
Elinor was preceded in death by her husband in 2018, and her sister, Julie Baker, in 2009.
She is survived by her daughter, Laura (Steve) Stackhouse; sons, William (Deborah) Ogden and David (Helena) Ogden; and grandchildren, Ellie and Robert Stackhouse, and William and Julia Ogden.
She will be interred with her husband in a private ceremony at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.
Memorials may be made to Project for Pride in Living (www.ppl-inc.org [ppl-inc.org]), Planned Parenthood of Minnesota (www.plannedparenthood.org [plannedparenthood.org]), or a charity of your choice.
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service in Bozeman. www.dokkennelson.com [dokkennelson.com]
