Greenville — Robert Allan Ogletree, 84, of Greenville, S.C. and St. Simons Island, Ga., died Saturday, January 18, 2020. He passed peacefully following complications from heart surgery. He was surrounded by his wife and children.
Robert was born in 1935 in Atlanta, the son of Robert Harold Ogletree and Elizabeth Reeves (Rice) Ogletree. Robert’s father served in US Navy during World War II and in the immediate post-war period, which required the family, including his sister Mary, born in 1938, to move frequently. They lived in California, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Guam, where Robert graduated from Father Dueñas Memorial High School. While living on the small pacific island, Robert enjoyed borrowing surplus military jeeps and heading into the jungle, following WWII battle maps, as part of his personal study of Guam’s history. He would retain his love for adventure, the ocean, and sailing his entire life.
Robert joined Navy ROTC and graduated from Georgia Tech University in 1957 with a B.S. Industrial Engineering. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. While a student at Georgia Tech, he met and married Mildred Lee Parks, of Jacksonville, Fla., who graduated from University of Georgia in 1958 with a B.F.A.
Robert served four years in the U.S. Navy, aboard the destroyer USS Braine. After leaving active service, Robert worked in an engineering firm in Jacksonville, Florida.
In 1963, Robert began working at Owens Corning Fiberglass, where over his 20+ years at the company, he would be promoted and transferred several times, eventually rising to Vice President, Manufacturing, Textiles Division, at the company’s Toledo, Ohio, headquarters.
After leaving Owens Corning in 1987, Robert worked at Clark Schwebel, Anderson S.C., and Fletcher Group, Greenville, S.C. He finished his working years serving for more than a decade with the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, where he helped computerize and automate the department. He also volunteered for the Greenville SC library system.
Robert was a Registered Professional Engineer; member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Eta Sigma Gamma.
Robert was an active member of the Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church, Greenville; a 32º Mason, and a member of Zenobia Shine Temple, Toledo, Ohio.
Robert is survived by his wife, Mildred Parks Ogletree, and their three children Craig Kingsley, Erin Ogletree, and Brynna Ogletree; sister Mary Ogletree Jones; grandchildren, Eleanor Lee (Kingsley) Cotey, Katherine Grace Kingsley, Amy Ogletree Kingsley, Mary Stuart Simpson, Robert Woodley Simpson, and Carly Nadine Ogletree; nieces and nephews, Clay Jones, Jennifer Jones-Allen, Walter Parks IV, and Scott Parks.
Services will be held on Sunday, January 26, 2020, at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church with Pastor Curtis Debose officiating. Visitation begins at 1:30-2:45 p.m., service at 3 p.m. Interment will be held on St. Simons Island, Ga., at a later date.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to Shriners Hospital for Children at donate.lovetotherescue.org
