Oden, Jacob Dakota son of Jon B & Heather D(Scraper)Oden
Burial Date: 2016, 08/08 Age: 15 Lot: 1233 G
DATELINE: Sterling, Kansas
NAME: Jacob D. Oden
AGE: 15 yrs
DATE OF DEATH: August 3, 2016
PLACE OF DEATH: rural Sterling as a result of an automobile accident
DATE OF BIRTH: January 18, 2001
PLACE OF BIRTH: Hutchinson
PARENTS: Jon B. & Heather D. Scraper Oden
RESIDENCE: lifetime resident of Sterling
EDUCATION: He was entering his Sophomore year at Sterling High School
MEMBERSHIPS: United Methodist Church, Connection Council for First United Methodist Church Youth Group; He was active in Beginning Vocal Jazz, Choir and Sterling Singers, Football and Basketball. He was on the Honor Roll and in the Gifted Program. Member of DFYIT & Swole Patrol all of Sterling
SURVIVORS: Parents: Jon and Heather Oden; 2 Brothers, J.J. Oden, Cody Oden; Sister, Caitlin Oden all of the home; Girlfriend Lexi Rose, Sterling; Grandparents; Jan Oden, Sterling, Randy & Wanda Scraper, Lawton, Okla.; Great-Grandmother, Ruth Jones, Sabetha, Ks.
PRECEDED IN DEATH BY Grandfather, Arthur “Buddy” Oden; Great-Grandparents, Anita & W. H. Oden, Glen Jones Jr., Robert & Vida Scraper
FUNERAL SERVICES: 1:18 P.M., Monday, August 8, 2016, at United Methodist Church, Sterling
OFFICIATING: Revs. Jeff Miller and Jeff Darnauer
BURIAL: Sterling Community Cemetery, Sterling
VISITATION: 2:00 to 5:00 P.M., Sunday, August 7, 2016, at United Methodist Church, Sterling with family present.
MEMORIAL: Light Up the Dark Ministries in care of Birzer Funeral Home, Sterling
Family recalls caring heart of Sterling teen who died in crash just days after mission trip
By Kathie Hanks Hutchinson News, 8/6/2016
Jacob Oden wanted to bear the cross.
His brother J.J. Oden suggested he pass the heavy wooden cross over to him as they walked in the summer’s heat through Great Bend during a mission trip to the Central Kansas Dream Center last week.
But Jacob insisted on carrying it. He told his brother, “I got this.”
On Wednesday, Jacob was killed in a two-vehicle crash northwest of Sterling. Tom Kelly, 53, of Sterling, was the driver of the car that collided with the Oden truck. Kelly remained in critical condition Friday at Via Christi-St. Francis Hospital. J.J. Oden was injured in the crash but has since been released from the hospital.
Family and friends gathered at the Oden family farm on Friday as plans were made for Monday’s funeral service at 1:18 p.m. at Sterling First United Methodist Church – signifying Jan. 18, 2001, the day Jacob was born.
Walking with the cross was just one of many experiences Jon and Heather Oden and siblings J.J., 17; Cody, 12; and Caitlin, 10, recalled as they cried, laughed and remembered the life they shared with Jacob.
“What made him special was that he just loved people. No matter their background or color of their skin, he loved them,” said J.J., who was wearing one of the “survivor bracelets” that Jacob frequently made out of paracord and handed out to people he thought might be struggling.
Heather Oden felt Jacob had a unique ability to see deep into people’s eyes and empathize with them. He liked to ask her, playfully, “How is you?”
Jacob, J.J. and Heather Oden spent last week with their church’s youth group working on the renovation of the former Great Bend High School, which is now the Central Kansas Dream Center. The center includes a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, and recovery program.
There were just four teenage boys in the group and they had the tough job of cleaning out the third floor of the building, said Jeff Darnauer, youth pastor at Sterling First United Methodist Church.
“They worked super hard,” said Darnauer. “The group relied on their muscle and strength.”
Darnauer believes a lot of people were influenced in a positive way by Jacob.
“He had a servant’s heart caring for people,” Darnauer said. “He was always listening and had an eye for those struggling and hurting and would offer them encouragement or a helping hand.”
Jacob had just finished his freshmen year at Sterling High School, where he participated in sports and gave thought to a career in sports medicine. He also had an amazing bass voice and was beginning to sing with the vocal jazz group.
During an entrepreneurship class, Jacob and a friend, Hans Anderson, co-founded H&J Pullers, a business that pulls rye growing in the wheat field and pigweeds in the milo and soybeans. Throughout the summer they had been organizing workers to go out to fields to pull weeds. Jacob and J.J. were heading home from a morning of weeding when the accident occurred.
The only girl, with three older brothers, Caitlin said Jacob was the brother who said yes to her when the others said no. The family all agreed Jacob made a conscious choice to say yes when others in the family asked him to do a favor.“He was just really caring,” said Cody.
Grandmother Jan Oden, also of Sterling, agreed.
“I’d call and say, ‘When you have time, can you do something,’ and he’d be there,” Jan Oden said.
Jacob was interested in helping with the “Light Up the Dark” ministry his mother had been involved with during the past year, for victims of sexual abuse.
While he was remembered as someone who always encouraged others, Jacob also loved to have fun and could be ornery – like the time he called a local restaurant determined to order caribou. Or the family outing to a farm supply business where he stuck toilet bowl plungers around the store.
said Jacob was the brother who said yes to her when the others said no. The family all agreed Jacob made a conscious choice to say yes when others in the family asked him to do a favor.
“He was just really caring,” said Cody.
Grandmother Jan Oden, also of Sterling, agreed.
“I’d call and say, ‘When you have time, can you do something,’ and he’d be there,” Jan Oden said.
Jacob was interested in helping with the “Light Up the Dark” ministry his mother had been involved with during the past year, for victims of sexual abuse.
While he was remembered as someone who always encouraged others, Jacob also loved to have fun and could be ornery – like the time he called a local restaurant determined to order caribou. Or the family outing to a farm supply business where he stuck toilet bowl plungers around the store.
But mostly he was there for others, always cheering for the underdog and reaching out to those he thought might be lonely.
Oftentimes he told others, like during the cross-walk, “I got this.” But he also encouraged others by reminding them, “You got this,” his way of letting them know they could get through whatever they had to face.
When Heather and Jon left the accident scene following the tragedy, she heard Jacob’s voice reassuring her with those very words: “You got this.”