Memorial Day is the day we remember those service people who have given their lives for our freedom. One such person was Ridgeway native Charles Frederick “Ted” Opdyke. Ted was born in Ridgeway in 1897, the son of Samuel Sigel and Rosa Redinger Opdyke and the nephew of John E. Opdyke, one of Ridgeway’s first settlers. Ted grew up here and in Stockton, KS. He joined Company G, 4th Missouri Infantry in 1916 and served first at the Mexico border. In 1917, his company was sent to first to Oklahoma for training then to France in 1918.
Corporal Opdyke was killed in action on September 27, 1918, but his family did not find out for sure until mid-October. He was buried in France, but his father wrote to Army Adjutant General Harris that he was not happy with that decision and wanted his boy to come home. In September 1921, his boy did come home and was buried in the Ridgeway Cemetery. Later, the American Legion Post in Ridgeway would be named in his memory.
