WHO I AM, WHERE I’VE BEEN, WHAT I’VE DONE
Benjamin Franklin Oswald III was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1934 to Benjamin F Oswald Jr and Jane C Oswald (Tarr) He moved to Bay Village when he was six and lived until at sixteen became a cadet at Randolph Macon Academy, Front Royal, Virginia, graduating in 1953. He then attended Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania leaving at the end of his freshman year to join the Air Force where he served first as a drill instructor and later as a water safety instructor and lifeguard. Four years later he returned to Allegheny, graduating in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, and a minor in creative writing.
Immediately after graduating he began a four-year stint as a Federal investigator leaving the FDA in 1964 to attend graduate school, first at the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology and finishing at The Methodist Theological School in Ohio where he earned a Master’s degree in counseling psychology.
During his working life, he was a short order cook, printer’s devil, dairy farmhand, high school teacher, minister, contractor, psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, and college professor now emeritus. During his career as a member of the faculty of North Central State College, Mansfield, Ohio he taught twenty-three different courses that covered all aspects of human development and behavior from birth to death, creating eighteen of these courses for the nursing, radiology, human services, and behavioral science curriculums. During his tenure he also authored two textbooks, one on human sexuality, the other on aging, and contributed poetry, essays, and short fiction to the college literary journal.
After he retired from teaching, he continued as a trustee of the Mansfield Sailing Club and then as Commodore, and he also became a member of SCORE. In 2002 he resigned from MSC and SCORE and returned to contracting. He also began to write his first novel, Echoes of Ellen, published in 2008 and nominated for both a National Book Award and an EPPIE (eBook award). Flood – A Saga (2009), Five Women in Black (2010), The Rental (2011), Terribly Twisted Tales (2012), The Footpath (2014), Vinni’s Bed (2014), Short Stories by a Short Author (2015), A Pearl of Great Worth (2016), and Johnny DeSilver, FDA (2017), followed Echoes of Ellen. His latest novel is Ghost Haven (2019)
He is survived by his loving wife Cynthia Oswald and daughters Cyd Montey(Oswald) and son in law Marc Montey, Susan Oswald, Robin Edwards(Eaton) and son in law Steve Edwards, Rhonda Haburn and son Bruce Oswald. Grandchildren Chantel Oglsby, Dane Greer, Jason Oswald and wife Kayla Oswald , Samantha Mclaughlin and husband Travis Neal, Kendra Youngblood (Hawk) and husband Eric Youngblood, Sarah Haburn, Jason Montey and Jenessa Edwards, and nine great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved cousin Marlene Tarr.
Funeral Home: Stephenson Nelson Funeral Home
Website: stephensonnelsonfh.com