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Glenn Eldridge Longardner committed his life to public service, culminating in terms as the Ligonier mayor and a member of the city council.
His motto: “Service is the rent you pay for living.”
Longardner’s personality fit the career. His daughter Susan Peirce described him as gregarious and outgoing.
He set an example for his children, who are all in some way involved in their communities, Peirce said.
“We all do something on an ongoing basis to give back, and I really believe that that’s because that was modeled from our dad and supported by our mother,” Peirce said.
Longardner, 86, died Tuesday at Peirce’s house after developing a systemic infection, she said. He lived independently until he fell in August and had to move into a nursing home, where his health deteriorated, she said.
Longardner was born Oct. 26, 1923, on a farm near Woodburn and graduated from Woodburn High School in 1941. He married Margaret Schaaf of Fort Wayne on Aug. 19, 1945, and they had four children. Margaret, his wife of 57 years, died in 2003.
Longardner worked for John Deere Co. for 43 years as a parts manager and a sales representative. After he retired, Longardner served as mayor of Ligonier from 1992 to 1996, later being profiled in the book “Apple Pie and Enchiladas” for his controversial support of Mexican immigrants moving to the town.
“It was a real joke to us. He ‘retired’ and then took on becoming a mayor,” Peirce said.
He later was president of the Ligonier Plan Commission and on the Ligonier City Council for four terms. Longardner resigned from the council two months before his death.
Longardner served on other boards, including as president of the Noble Agri-Traders Corp.; the Strawberry Valley Days Festival board; the Marshmallow Festival committee; and the organizer and president of the Ruth Stultz Nursery School board.
He was awarded Ligonier’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award in 1999 and was honored by the Noble County Community Foundation as the “Giver of Gifts.”
A Celebration of Life memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Ligonier United Methodist Church, 466 Townline Road, Ligonier. Calling will be 1 to 3 pm at the church. After the service, the family will host a celebration reception in the church’s fellowship hall.
Memorials are to Parkview Hospice, Parkview Noble Foundation, or Bethel Temple Young Adult Ministry, Ligonier.
