Written by Kay Bouyack
The Scioto Fou ndation is pleased to announce the establishment of the new Melanie Ogg Memorial Scholarship created by her family in memory of a woman who inspired and taught many people in the Portsmouth community.
To be eligible for the new Melanie Ogg Scholarship, a student must be a graduate of Portsmouth West High School and plan to major in education or the performing arts. Preference will be given to students that attend Shawnee State University, Ohio University or Muskingham University.
The family, in consort with the volunteer scholarship committee of the Scioto Foundation, will make annual selections on behalf of the Board of Governors.
Melanie Gay Jeffers Ogg was born on February 27, 1960 in Washington, Pennsylvania to Earl Jeffers and the late Jean Horr Jeffers. She died on September 28, 2023 at SOMC after developing a rare and sudden disease. Melanie was a retired teacher from the Washington-Nile School District after thirty-three years as a third grade teacher. She was a proud member of the Democratic Party and served on the Ohio State Central Committee. She was treasurer of the Scioto County Democratic Party and a member of the Scioto County Democratic Party Hall of Fame. She was also a member of the League of Women Voters. She loved the arts, making costumes and gardening, according to family members.
Melanie married Bill Ogg on August 27, 1983 and had one daughter, Summer Logan. She made a donation of her organs to the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western University.
“My mama was the brightest light in my life,” said her daughter Summer. “She was my best friend, my strength and my heart. She loved animals, was extremely active in local and state politics, loved teaching, crocheting and sewing. She had a beautiful voice and would sing all the time and loved planting flowers. She especially loved being a part of the Shawnee State University Performing Arts Academy and supporting me with the Bone & Fiddle Arts Collective, Inc.”
“My beautiful mother ultimately passed away from a devasting, aggressive and extremely rare brain disease called Creutizfeldt-Jakob Disease,” Logan explained. “Only 350 people in the US get this disease each year. She started complaining of double vision and brain fog in the middle of July and progressively deteriorated day by day. With the help of the fabulous doctors at SOMC, she finally made it to Cleveland Clinic and got her unfortunate diagnosis by Case Western Reserve University which is the leading research facility on Prion Diseases. We hope that with her organ donation to Case Western, she will help further research and hopefully save another bright and beautiful soul from this disease.”
Contributions to the Melanie Ogg Memorial Scholarship Fund from family, friends or the general public may be made at any time. Donations may be in the form of cash, securities or properties.
Additional information about the Melanie Ogg Memorial Scholarship Fund or other planned giving opportunities at the Scioto Foundation may be obtained by contacting Patty Tennant, Program Office – Donor Services, or SF Executive Director Kim Cutlip at (740) 354-4612.