Betty Plank, 93

Betty Plank, 93, of Ashland, former teacher and local historian, passed away peacefully Tuesday evening, June 14, 2016 in her home.

She was born April 23, 1923 in Akron, Ohio. Betty was the daughter of the late Robert J. and Ethel (nee Marquardt) Hood.

A former resident of Wadsworth, she moved to Ashland in 1939 and completed her last two years of high school, graduating in 1941. She attended Ashland College, graduating with a Bachelors Degree of Education in 1945. Betty taught high school English for one year at Polk, and English, Speech, and Drama at Wadsworth High for six years.

On August 2, 1952, she married Edward S. “Bud” Plank. The couple raised two nieces, Sue and Chris Callison, following the death of Edward’s sister Jane and her husband and two children in a private plane crash.

From 1952-1966, Mrs. Plank taught American Literature and Journalism at Ashland High School and was the advisor of the Panorama. From 1968 to 1981, she served as a substitute teacher in the Ashland school system.

Betty was a devoted member of the First Presbyterian Church, where she had served as a deaconess, Sunday school teacher, and served on many committees. She was a life member of the Ashland County Historical Society and volunteered for 20 years on the museum board which included two terms as president. She also was on the museum’s endowment board and served a term as president.

In 1984, she began writing weekly articles on Ashland County history for the Ashland Times-Gazette. A column that she was still writing today. Underwritten by the Ashland Museum Endowment Board, Mrs. Plank compiled the first 200 articles in a book called “Historic Ashland County”, published in 1987. “Historic Ashland County”, Book II came out in 1993 and Book III in 1995. More than 300 articles written since then, have been clipped and are on file at the museum. A room in the Eloise Ridgeway Noonan house has been designated as the Betty Plank research library.

She held memberships formerly as a member of Friends, AARP and Retired Teachers. In 1980 she received “the Woman of the Year” by the Beta Sigma Phi sorority, and in 1986 as the “Lady Lion of the Year.” In 1990, she received the Three C’s, “Someone Special” award. The Panorama Staff and the Horticulture Class honored her for her years as Panorama advisor with the planting of a tree in the high school garden on Arbor Day, 1995. Betty was also honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Ashland High School.

Betty is survived by two nieces, Sue Callison Mathern and her husband, Fred of Englewood, Florida and Chris Callison Durham of Riverside, California; two grand nephews, Jim Mathern and Michael Bilan; a grandniece, Harmony Bilan; and her brother, Walter Hood of Tampa, Florida.

In addition to her parents, Betty is preceded in death by her loving husband of 59 years, Edward S. “Bud” Plank who passed away, July 2, 2012.

Funeral services will be held, Wednesday June 29, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. in the First Presbyterian Church, 320 W. Church Street, Ashland, Ohio 44805 with Reverend Michael Parker officiating. Interment will be in the Ashland Cemetery. Friends call one hour prior to the service from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the church.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Bud and Betty Plank Memorial Scholarship Fund, in care of the Ashland County Community Foundation, 300 College Avenue, Ashland, Ohio 44805 or to the First Presbyterian Church, 320 W. Church Street, Ashland, Ohio 44805.

For those who may not be able to attend, online condolences may be shared on the funeral home’s website at denbowfh.com.

Denbow-Gasche Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Betty Plank, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.