Louise Ogg

UNITY, Ill. -- Louise P. Ogg of Unity passed away at 8:45 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, at her residence.

Louise Planert Ogg was born April 22, 1927, in Iron Mountain, Michigan, to William and Edith Hodges Planert. They moved to Unity in 1931, where she has lived the reminder of her life at her family home.

She attended Unity Grade School and graduated from Cairo (Illinois) High School in 1944.

Louise married the love of her life, Russell Ogg, at the Church of the Redeemer on Nov. 22, 1945. She was the mother of one child, a daughter, Jana Louise Ogg, who was killed in August 1978, three weeks shy of her 13th birthday.

She was brought up in Hodges Store, the family-owned business, and there learned to clerk at an early age. In 1965, she went to work at Fabricland in Cairo.

On April 1, 1969, she began working at the Cairo Public Library, where she retired as librarian in 1992.

Louise was a 4-H leader for 13 years in both Unity and Cairo and considered this one of the most important things in her life that she did.

She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was involved for many years with the Alexander County, Illinois, Tourism Committee and the Egyptian Saddle Club and was a charter member of the Genealogy Society of Southern Illinois. She was instrumental in seeing the Custom House become a reality and gave tirelessly to this project, donating a large majority of the things that are on display and her time.

Russell and Louise were brought up in the Depression years. Being able to vacation and travel in almost every state in the United States was something neither ever imagined they would be able to do.

She loved animals and especially dogs. She adopted a special terrier named Annie.

Her interest in history was inherited from both of her grandmothers. Louise was an avid historian about the entire Alexander County area.

She is survived by close friends Jerry and Monica Smith of Cairo, Matthew and Kara Smith of St. Louis, Jim and Ann Rolwing of Charleston, Missouri, and Sherry Miller of Mounds, Illinois.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Russell, in 2006 after nearly 61 years of marriage; her daughter, Jana Louise; her father in 1963; and her mother in 1977. All took a piece of Louise with them as they left this earth.

Friends may call between 5 and 8 p.m. Thursday at the Jones Funeral Home Villa Ridge, Illinois.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the Rev. James Miriuki and Bob Swenson officiating. Interment will follow in the Beechwood Cemetery in Mounds.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Cairo Custom House Museum, P.O. Box 151, Cairo, IL 62914.

To leave online condolences, please visit jones-funeral.com.