The Ancestor Project – Leon Charles Ottens by Chance Anderson

As one of the final projects of the year, 7th graders at Erie Middle School were challenged to pick an ancestor, or someone else that they could research and learn more about, in order to write a story telling about their life. Students conducted interviews with family members, and some were able to gather additional resources and pictures to help tell their story. While there were many great stories written, not all will be published. 

This project was a collaborative effort between students’ history classes, with Mrs. Kruthoff and Mr. Armstrong, English class, with Mrs. Wolf, and their families. It was inspired by the original project that long-time English teacher, Mrs. Wiersema, made a tradition in her 8th grade class.

Students enjoyed getting to know more about their families, and many were surprised to learn how interesting their families were. We hope you all will enjoy their stories, too!

Leon Charles Ottens

• Chance Anderson 
• 4th hour 
• 5/1/24
• Ms. Shabani

Could you imagine fighting for your life in the Korean War, for two years? My maternal great grandfather, Leon Charles Ottens, had some challenges. He fought in a war, he married a woman that changed his life, and raised a family on a farm. He enjoyed his retirement, until he passed. My great grandfather lived a successful life. 

Leon was born on March 4, 1933, in Morrison, Illinois. His parents were Gertrude and Garret Ottens. Leon got his middle name from his Uncle Charles, on his dad’s side. Leon had five siblings in all, three boys, Dick, Gary, and Jim and two girls, Betty, and Alberta. However, I only knew him until I was ten or eleven. I do know he was quite a jokester, along with his sons. Leon never graduated from Fulton High School in Illinois. He dropped out when he was a junior or senior. He never went back to school after he got back from the war or even in his later life. As a kid, his choirs were to milk the cows, and feed them. Leon would stay with family in the summer to work on their farms with them, they would feed him and have a bed for him. When he got back from the army, he went back to Fulton.

Leon Ottens married Joyce Hoogheem after she graduated high school from Fulton, Illinois. He was twenty three years old when they got married. They married in November of 1953. His wife Joyce, was his whole world. They had two sons and one daughter, one son being Kendal who is still alive and Kelby who has passed. Leon’s daughter Pam is my maternal grandma. He had three jobs that I know of, the army was one of his jobs along with the railroad, and then he farmed until his retirement. Leon did not play any sports to my knowledge but he did do a lot of farming, fishing, played cards, and went to church. He also liked to bowl for fun. When Leon got home from the army, he got in a head-on crash with another car in his Plymouth, which was his first car when he got out of the army. The crash in his car resulted in minor injuries that I know of.

Leon moved a few times while growing up. He lived in Fulton until he married his wife Joyce. They moved to Spring Valley, Chadwick, where they had farm land that my wonderful grandfather would farm, and then Morrison the rest of his life where my grandma is still living to this day. He had an achievement in 2009 where he got to attend the honor flight to D.C., he went on this honor flight to D.C. He was also a lifelong member of the V.F.W. and American Legion, V.F.W. stands for Veteran Foreign Wars. Leon was a part of this club, because he fought in the Korean War, which is a foreign war. 

My hard working grandfather had many hardships in his life, but the one I think affected him the most was an alcoholic father. After being in the war, he had started to drink a lot, but it was causing marital problems so he stopped, to save his relationship, he had too. He could never do that to my grandma who is the love of his life. 

During Leon’s free time, throughout the day, he loved to hang out with Joyce, his kids, and grandkids. Joyce and him would always hang out after she got off of work, since he was at home retired. 

Some of my favorite memories with him were every Thanksgiving we would watch football and other sports. We also would watch the parade at times. Great grandma and grandpa loved coming to watch me play baseball in the summers. I loved seeing them there supporting me. I learned he was a hard worker and was busy all the time trying to support his wife, and family. My wonderful great grandpa was always out doing stuff until he retired from farming, and the railroad. He was devoted to church and my grandma would go with him.

I wish I would have asked him a lot more questions about his life when he was alive. I do kind of feel closer but not so much, because he was not here to ask him all of the questions, and my grandma doesn’t remember everything. I hope everyone who’s in the next generation knows that they should spend time with the older people in your family. I think if I would have been closer to him like I wanted to, I think I could answer most of the questions for this project instead of going through people other than what he said. I hope that everyone else that will do this project, will get closer to their loved ones because you never know when it is going to be their last or even your last breath. I regret not getting closer to the family members that have passed. 

I really do like this project. I would suggest you guys do it next year ,but I think I would like it more if he was still alive, because I could ask him the questions personally. As long as I could remember, he always had the same haircut. I would always mess with the top because he had a flat top and he would say,  “Who is that Messing with my hair,” even though he knew it was me the whole time, he would still play around. I would always be hiding behind his chair when I was messing with his hair. I would mess it up and then go back to the ground behind his chair. I also remember him saying my mom’s truck was a vehicle, because he did not like Chevys. He was always a Ford guy. 

In conclusion, Leon was an inspiring great grandpa. He was an amazing grandpa because he was always there for me. He was in the war, married and raised a family, and had a successful life on the farm. I wish he was still here today with us, so then I could be the one asking him the question instead of asking my grandma, because it was hard to go get some answers from her, because she was not with him his whole life. It is always good to spend time with the ones you love.

“The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world.  There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor.  

But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around.

It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.”

― Leo Buscaglia