Obituary for William Ziegenhain

William Charles Ziegenhain, age 88, of Ponca City, died August 29, 2014. Graveside memorial services will be held 1:00PM Friday, September 5, 2014 at the Odd Fellows Cemetery with Reverend Robert Montgomery officiating.

Bill was born April 5, 1926 in Burlington, Iowa to William Theodore and Mabel Matilda Ziegenhain (Griffel); grew up in Tulsa, and graduated from Tulsa Central in 1943.

He served in the Navy for 2 years and then graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1949 with a BS in Chemical Engineering and Oklahoma State University with MS in Chemical Engineering in 1956. On February 3, 1951, Bill married Sue Louise Martin in Drumright, Oklahoma. He worked for the Tidewater Oil Company in Drumright, Oklahoma from 1949-1955, then with Conoco, Amoco Chemicals and Pan American Research in various locations from 1956-1961. In 1961, he joined Conoco in Ponca City and worked in the Research Department until early retirement in May, 1985. Following retirement, Bill worked as a Consultant in engineering fields. Bill first became interested in Genealogy after watching the TV Series “ROOTS” in 1979. He started by spending two weeks in Burlington, Iowa in 1980 researching great-grandparents. Then, he turned his attentions to the Ziegenhain family history in Germany, the home of all of his ancestors. In the Wiesbaden Archive, he found the early church records of the Ziegenhain ancestors that came to the USA in 1833. He connected 10 consecutive generations in the Ziegenhain line dating back to the year 1680. During this search he also found there was a town in Germany named Ziegenhain. Bill was a member of the Pioneer Genealogy Society and spent many hours documenting Kay County records. In March of 2004 he was presented the Oklahoma Distinguished Service Award for Preservation of State and Local History by the Oklahoma Heritage Association. Bill researched the family history of E.W. Marland and along with C.D. Northcutt and Bob Burke, co-authored the book “Palace on the Prairie The Marland Family Story”, which was published in 2005.

Bill was a member of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Ponca City.

His wife, Sue Louise Ziegenhain, and his sister, Mary Ann Crandall, preceded him in death.

Bill is survived by his son, Charles and wife Patti Ziegenhain of Ponca City; daughter, Mary Kay and husband Brian Potts of Broken Arrow, OK; grandson, Brent Potts and wife Kelsey of Tulsa, OK; granddaughters Amy and husband Kevin Waggoner, Ann and husband Shane Mayse of Ponca City and Alicia Potts of Los Angeles, CA and two great-grandchildren, Zoey Waggoner and Aydan Mayse of Ponca City. His brother, Richard Henry Ziegenhain and wife, Sue Ann of Irving, TX and brother-in-law, Jack Martin and wife Jolene of Ardmore, OK also survive Bill.

In lieu of flowers, friends may contribute to Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, Inc., 1904 North Union, Suite 103, Ponca City, OK 74601.

Source: Trout Funeral Home