By Debra Haight

Special to Leader Publications

Niles’ own homegrown historian was honored Saturday with the Historic Preservation Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Donna Ochenryder has spent her life collecting and chronicling the history of her hometown, from Niles High School sports to the Big Brown Takedown and the Fort St. Joseph archaeology digs.

“It just blew me away when they told me I was getting this,” Ochenryder said Saturday. “This is such an honor. Thank you so much.”

She credited the efforts of her late husband, Herb, who died in July.

“It wasn’t Donna alone. Herb was with me every step of the way,” she said. “We were married 63 years. We lost him July 23.”

Ochenryder echoed the words of another Niles native, Dillard Crocker, in expressing how she feels about her hometown. Crocker played on the Niles High School state championship basketball team in 1941-42 and later went on to play professionally.

“He said the most wonderful thing was being appreciated by the people of Niles,” she said. “When they came back from winning the state championship, he said people met them in Cassopolis to escort them back to Niles. That’s Niles for you.”

More than two dozen people including family, friends and members of the Rebecca Dewey Chapter of the DAR gathered inside the Chapin Mansion to honor Ochenryder. The Three Oaks-Rebecca Dewey Chapter nominated her for the medal which is one of less than 30 awarded by the DAR across the country this year.

Ochenryder, 84, has become the go-to person for Niles history, a fact local Historic Preservation Committee Chair Mary Ellen Drolet noted is now recognized by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

“We submitted her bio as well as letters of support from three local organizations and they had to decide,” Drolet said. “We already knew she is the go-to person for local history.”

“Ms. Ochenryder’s efforts and leadership to preserve the history of the Niles, Michigan area through her preservation projects, her extensive collection of photographs, and her rescue of books and papers is outstanding,” National Historic Preservation Committee Chair Cindy Phillips wrote in letter acknowledging the award to the local chapter.

Drolet gave those assembled a brief glimpse into Ochenryder’s life and all she has done to preserve Niles history. While she does not have titles or degrees, she has spent her life preserving the history of her hometown by saving materials and documenting events to share with future generations.

Ochenryder grew up on Front Street in downtown Niles with parents of English, Danish, French and Cherokee descent. Like many children in that era, she worked from a young age. At age 16, she became an usher at the Riviera Theater in downtown Niles where she met her future husband, Herb Ochenryder, who was in the service.

The Riviera and other downtown buildings are now gone, demolished in the 1970s with urban renewal. “To Donna, it was like losing her friends,” Drolet noted. “She knew every building and alley in the area and knew the history of each of them. She had collected wonderful memories of the town she loved and lived in.”

As Drolet told those assembled, Ochenryder has spearheaded many efforts over the years to preserve the town’s history. She gathered photos for her high school 50th reunion in 2001 and put them together in a book. She also compiled a 250-page book documenting Niles high school sports from 1914 to 1955.

Ochenryder has also been there to chronicle the archaeological digs done by Western Michigan University since 1998 as well as the “Big Brown Takedown” of the Kawneer storefronts a few years later. She helped organize the 100th anniversary of the Fort St. Joseph Boulder and the downtown’s designation as a historic district, both in 2013.

She was featured in the 2016 “Our Town: Niles” video created by WNIT and has had her photographs featured on the Niles city website and the Michigan Internet Railroad History Museum.