Colleen Oden

Colleen Oden, 95, longtime resident of Warren and Huntington, passed away peacefully Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. She was born Nov. 30, 1928, in Berne the youngest of three sisters of Ray and Mable Duff. Older sisters Glenna and Jeanne preceded her in death. She married fellow Manchester College coed Lawrence E. Gibboney (Gibb) in 1949. They raised their two children, Ann and Ted, together until Gibb’s untimely death in 1978. She found happiness once again in marriage with George Oden in 1980. He was a widower with three children from his marriage to his first wife, Wanda: Gary Oden, Jana Beck and Judy Lewis. Lovingly known in the family as the “Starting Five,” they brought together a happily functioning family long before the term “blended family” was popular. Starting in 1984, they had a long and active retirement with residences in Huntington County and Bradenton, Florida, as well as having traveled widely on both sides of the Atlantic.
She held academic degrees from Jefferson Township School (Adams County), Manchester College and Ball State University. During a 23-year career as a teacher, she taught in Lancaster and Salamonie Township Schools and later chaired the English department at Huntington North High. She belonged to the honorary teachers’ association Delta Kappa Gamma, the Indiana Retired Teachers’ Association and the Chautauqua Club. A beloved and respected mentor and friend to colleagues and students alike, in her free time she was a voracious reader, an avid sports enthusiast and a dogged competitor at bridge and euchre tables. During a 15-year interim (1950-65), she and her first husband owned and operated a busy family business in Warren, Gibb’s Jewelry.
She is survived by her three daughters, Jana Sue (Dennis) Beck of Fort Wayne; Judy (Paul) Lewis of Warren; and Ann (Wayne) Wall of Indianapolis; two sons, Gary Oden of North Manchester; and Ted (Robyn) Gibboney, Indianapolis; 14 grandchildren; and 31 great-grandchildren.
A service to celebrate her life will be held Saturday, April 20 at 11 a.m. in the chapel at Heritage Pointe Retirement Community, 801 N. Huntington Road, Warren. The worship service will be preceded by a visitation time between 9:30-10:45 a.m. Family and friends will gather to share in a luncheon following.
Memorials may be made to Heritage Pointe, 801 N. Huntington Ave., Warren, IN 46792.
Arrangements provided by Glancy-H Brown & Son Funeral Home in Warren. Online condolences may be made at www.glancyfuneralhomes.com.