Lifelong Learner

At age 84 and after three degrees, Kathryn Ogg is still showing up for class

By Michelle Nery

Working as a nurse for 50 years, raising four children, earning three degrees and strengthening her community through grass-roots efforts, Kathryn Ogg has made things happen in her life.

“A little something here and a little something there. Nothing monumental, just making things happen,” she said.

Ogg graduated from Norfolk’s Maury High School in 1938 and the Norfolk General Hospital School of Nursing in 1941. After a two-year stint at the Florence Crittenton Home and another two years at the University of Virginia Hospital, she joined the staff at Norfolk General, working as a night nurse until her retirement in 1992.

Save for an eight-year period when she stayed home with her young children, Ogg had a remarkably long and rewarding career. A working woman at a time when combining work and family was the exception among the female population, she also would become a role model on the Old Dominion campus as a lifelong learner
.
Taking advantage of the hospital’s educational benefits, she enrolled in classes at ODU in 1979 and ended up completing both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, focusing on history, women’s studies and international cultures, in 1984 and 1986. Ogg initially had no plans to pursue a degree, but eventually she had earned so many credits that she was told she should declare a major.

She later completed an M.B.A. in 1996 through an accelerated summer program at the California American University.

“When I was in nursing school, the classes were medicine, science and lab work. When I started taking classes at Old Dominion, it opened a whole new world to me. After all those years, I was finally studying things that I enjoyed – history and literature,” she said.

Ogg experienced no reservations about sitting in class with students young enough to be her grandchildren. “I didn’t think that much about it,” she confessed. “You were just accepted. I have made some very good friends with people who were younger students in my classes.”
Now 84 years old, Ogg audits a class each semester at ODU and recently enjoyed taking a graduate course on Social Inequality taught by Mona Danner, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice. “You’d be amazed at how this class fits into everyday news,” Ogg said. “Dr. Danner particularly impressed me. The course is very timely and helps you to better understand what’s in the newspapers.”

Danner was likewise happy to have such an eager student in Ogg. “Kathryn was a valuable addition to our class,” she noted. “She frequently brought in additional reading material she discovered outside of class. Her contributions were always timely and frequently compelling.”

Ogg is currently taking Danner’s follow-up course on Globalization, Justice and Human Rights. But she’s had to put her pursuit of a Ph.D. in urban studies on hold, since she passed the time limit to complete the requirements of the degree program.

“Every year, there are so many things I’m doing that it’s hard to devote enough time to taking classes with a lot of writing,” she explained.

Ogg is extremely active both in her community and the university. She has been involved with ODU’s Model United Nations and Model Organization of American States, and she is currently a member of Town-N-Gown, Delta Sigma Lambda (a university group for returning women) and the American Association of University Women. Among her current and former community volunteer affiliations are the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Hampton Roads, her neighborhood civic league, Meals on Wheels and the Girl Scouts, which she has been involved with for many years.

Being a member of so many different organizations has allowed Ogg to bring groups together to accomplish things, such as a beautification project along Virginia Beach Boulevard and donating gifts to a local children’s charity.

In 1981, after meeting a Japanese exchange student in one of her classes, Ogg brought her together with her own Junior Girl Scout troop and some other Scouts who had been doing projects to raise money for a trip to Japan. The university provided them a room, and for seven weeks the youngsters learned Japanese language and culture.

“Being involved at ODU has been a really nice activity for somebody with a family,” Ogg said. “My son and niece went with me on a Model Organization of American States trip to Washington, D.C. It was an activity that I could get everyone involved in ... and it certainly speaks to what ODU is.”

Ogg has made education a family affair, sharing her love of learning with her four children, two of whom (Charlotte ’76 and Robbie ’81) received degrees from Old Dominion.
“I’ve been very lucky. I have had four children, 12 grandchildren, a wonderful husband who died in 1979, and good friends and neighbors.”

Explaining her interest in volunteerism, she said, “My theory is that a lot of people working together can do the same as one person giving a lot of money. In exchange for working together, we get the pleasure of each other’s company.”

Ogg encourages fellow senior citizens to return to school. She noted that for those over the age of 60 who fall below a certain income level, ODU classes can be taken for credit at no charge. And any senior citizen can audit a class for free.