Women of Note: Jill Ogden landed in Stockbridge and hit the ground running

by Mary Jo David

In and around Stockbridge, you often hear people joke that even after 20 or 30 years of living in the community, they’re still considered “newbies” by those whose families have lived here for generations.

Jill Ogden is the exception to the rule. Although Ogden’s parents—Colleen and Mark Redfield—have lived in Stockbridge since 1999, it took until 2011 for Ogden, her husband Stewart, and their blended family to settle in the area. But within a few years of arriving, Ogden began leaving her imprint on the town.

Asked what she dreamed of being back when she was a child, Ogden barely missed a beat when she replied, “I wanted nothing more than to be a mom of six kids and a school teacher.” Always the over-achiever, her family consists of eight children, ranging from 11 to 25 years old, including a foster child and an unofficial adoptee, Kimberly. (Sadly, Kimberly passed away when she was only 20 years old. )

“Stewart and I like to think of our family as ‘yours, mine, ours, and then some,!’” Ogden explained.

Ogden spent 15 years as a stay-at-home mom. She moved to Stockbridge where the younger kids started school, so it made sense, in 2016, that the PTO was one of the first organizations Ogden chose to dip her toes in after getting settled in the area. At that time, the Stockbridge PTO was in danger of shutting down due to lack of participation. Beginning as a volunteer, she soon found herself leading the PTO as its president.

“We pulled together a really great group of people and soon had engaging, enriching events almost monthly for families of the kids in school,” Ogden recalls.

PTO involvement and volunteering with Stockbridge Community Outreach were great ways for her to meet new people and make many connections in the area, “all while doing good, fun stuff.”

After five years as PTO president, Ogden began focusing her attention on other areas of need in the community, including working as an elections inspector for Stockbridge Township. Judy Williams, who is on the Livingston County Board of Canvassers, has been familiar with Ogden’s work in that area. “Jill’s ‘no hurdle too high’ attitude is amazing; she is always ready to attack another obstacle.”

Ogden is also a trustee on the Board of Education for Stockbridge Community Schools and has served as clerk of the Building Department for Stockbridge Township, a role she recently stepped down from to make more time for her commitments to the Village of Stockbridge.

As Village Council president and manager, Ogden is wearing two hats: she was elected to the Council president role but had to automatically take on the manager role when the previous village manager resigned just before Ogden began her term as Village president.

“The manager role basically defaulted to me. It’s a paid position, but I performed it voluntarily for six months.”

One of Ogden’s proudest professional accomplishments was successfully proving to the Village Board that she could fill both Village positions and do so effectively.

“After those first months, I negotiated a contract with the Village to be compensated going forward for the work I was doing as village manager while continuing to serve as village president,” Ogden explained. “While I may not have all the titles and degrees normally associated with these positions, I dug in and proved that, in the dual roles, I could have a positive influence on the Village. That’s so important to me. This is our home; I want to make a difference here.”

Challenges are not new to Ogden. Those who know her are familiar with her trusty sidekick, a yellow lab named Clifford (or “Cliff”). Ogden was born with a visual disability that was later diagnosed as Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), which the American Academy of Ophthalmology describes as a retinal dystrophy that results in severe vision loss at an early age. In her case, Ogden is almost completely blind, and Cliff is Ogden’s service dog.

When she was 11, Ogden met the late Professor Sue Ponchillia of the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies at Western Michigan University.

“I have been blessed with many role models, but Professor Ponchillia was like a second mom to me. She was strong, no nonsense—a straight shooter—and she cared about everyone,” Ogden said. “She and her husband started the goalball program at Western. It’s a sport developed after WWII  for blind veterans. I played on Western’s goalball team when I was 15 on the US Women’s Team when I was 17.”

When she was 19, Ogden moved to New Jersey to work with The Seeing Eye, Inc., of Morristown. From Ogden’s perspective, “life-ing” with a significant disability can be challenging. Every day she deals with accessibility issues and is accustomed to having to prove herself to others who often take all of their five senses for granted.

“But I’m as stubborn as the day is long,” says this fearless warrior. “Tell me I can’t do something, and I’ll show you how!”

Like Dory in “Finding Nemo,” Ogden’s mantra is “Just keep swimming.” And that’s what she’s doing—for her family, the Village of Stockbridge, and those in the Stockbridge School District.

All photos provided by Jill Ogden.

Board of Education trustee Jill Ogden and Cliff attend the MASB conference sponsored by the Michigan Association of School Boards.

Village president and manager and Board of Education trustee Jill Ogden takes advantage of a rare moment to relax and enjoy time on the water.