Colleen Oden, 95, longtime resident of Warren and Huntington, IN, passed away peacefully at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. She was born on November 30, 1928, in Berne, IN, 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. Colleen found happiness once again in marriage with George Oden in 1980. George 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, Colleen and George had a long and active retirement with residences in Huntington County, IN, and Bradenton, Fl, as well as having traveled widely on both sides of the Atlantic.

Colleen held academic degrees from Jefferson Township School (Adams County, IN), Manchester College, and Ball State University. During a twenty-three-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 fifteen-year interim (1950-65), she and her first husband owned and operated a busy family business in Warren, Gibb's Jewelry.

Loving survivors include
Daughters Jana Sue (Dennis) Beck, Ft. Wayne
Judy (Paul) Lewis, Warren
Ann (Wayne) Wall, Indianapolis
Sons Gary Oden, North Manchester
Ted (Robyn) Gibboney, Indianapolis

14 Grandchildren
31 Great grandchildren

A service to celebrate Colleen's life will be held at 11am on April 20 in the chapel at Heritage Pointe Retirement Community, 801 N Huntington Rd, Warren IN 46792. The worship service will be preceded by a visitation time between 9:30 and 10:45. Family and friends will gather to share in a luncheon following.

Preferred memorials: Heritage Pointe, 801 N Huntington Ave. Warren, IN 46792

Arrangements are being handled by Glancy-H Brown & Son Funeral Home in Warren
Online condolences may be made at www.glancyfuneralhomes.com