Well-loved NJ garden columnist Richard Poffenbaugh dies at 93
Richard Poffenbaugh, the well-loved and knowledgeable Mansfield News Journal garden columnist for 35 years, died Sunday. He was 93.
Poffenbaugh was a longtime Ontario resident.
He graduated from Ashland University and The Ohio State University with a master's degree. He met his beloved wife, Barbara, in Mt. Gilead Ohio. Richard and Barbara were married for 63 years. Barbara, also a retired teacher, died in 2022.
He loved life in his gardens, his biology classroom at Mansfield Senior High (especially that third floor greenhouse!), typing his weekly garden column and Mansfield Men's Garden Club newsletter in his den on his trusty IBM typewriter.
In 2019, the News Journal interviewed Poffenbaugh when the Mansfield Men's Garden Club paid tribute to him with a cookbook. which showed off many of Poffenbaugh's favorite recipes.
He loved his "In The Garden" column in the Mansfield News Journal for 35 years while photographing plants in his yard. Richard's Men's Garden Club newsletter (which he wrote from 1980 to 2000) was a highlight of his life too. "the Greenhorn" also included recipes.
The cookbook reads like a novel with comments included about the recipes and where or from whom Poffenbaugh got them.
He was proud of his work with the Ontario Planning Commission for 16 years as well as 9 years on the Ontario village council, his family wrote in his obituary.
Richard loved sharing the story of when The Ohio State University campus opened in Mansfield and he was privileged to be an evening instructor for 10 years teaching biology and horticulture. His love of nature stemmed from visiting his Grandma and Grandpa Feik's farm in Crestline, Ohio. As a young boy he would fish and watch the trains go past the family farm, his family said in the obituary.
"'RP' left his legacy throughout Mansfield due to his advice for growing flowers, vegetables, fruit and trees. He truly loved sharing his knowledge so others could see the beauty in gardening. He was a lifetime member of the International Lilac Society and yankee doodle was his all-time favorite lilac. Peonies, Mr. Lincoln red rose, tulips, daffodils, yukon gold potatoes and lima beans were among his favorites to grow also. The highlight of Dad's day was reading his five newspapers and drinking his coffee to catch up on all of the news," his daughters wrote in his obituary.
Richard requested no funeral or fuss.
In memory of "Mr. P" as he was affectionately called, his family asked that people take a stroll through the beautiful Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield or simply just enjoy a day of nature as he did. Richard will join his parents, wife and daughter Beth Ann in Mansfield Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Ontario, Ohio with a graveside family service at a later date.
Everyone in the newsroom at the News Journal loved Richard Poffenbaugh and he will be remembered for his knowledge, love of writing, gardening and people. He was considered a member of the newsroom and one of reporters' biggest fans.
His family is being assisted with private funeral arrangements by Moreland Funeral Home in Westerville.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Poffenbaugh was News Journal garden columnist 35 years
