Jack Michael Ogdee was born November 22, 1896 in Tripoli, Lebanon. He and his sister Carrie (three and five respectively) were traveling to the United States with their mother, Helen Attra Ogdee. They were going to meet their father, who had come several years earlier and who had sent for them to join him. The trip was by ship from Beirut to Marseilles, France, then by train overland to La Harve harbor and on to the United States.

During the train trip in France, Mrs. Ogdee was pushed off the train and killed. Speculation was that she was robbed for a gold chain measuring approximately 60 inches long. This left the two tiny children alone and frightened, not knowing anyone nor speaking the local language. The children were put in a Roman Catholic orphanage in France for two years, until their father, George Ogdee, could save enough money to make the trip to get them. When he got there, the children didn't know their father.

George Ogdee and his two children came by boat to Ellis Island in New York City, and from there to Krebbs, Oklahoma, where he worked in a coal mine. His relatives kept telling him to come to San Antonio where the weather was warmer.

George Ogdee brought his children to San Antonio where he raised them and put them in school. In San Antonio the relatives helped him raise the children. Jack Ogdee finished the sixth grade and then went to work peddling produce in the exclusive Alamo Heights neighborhood. His work consisted of going to the produce market at 3am and then driving his wagon to Alamo Heights arriving a little after eight in the morning and working until he sold all his produce, traveling back home and getting ready for the next day.

Once, when Jack Ogdee was a boy playing marbles, he and one of his friends were smoothing the ground and felt a bump in the dirt. They started digging deeper in the dirt to see what was making the bump; they dug and dug and found an old cannon which is now located in the back of the Alamo.

Jack worked with his father until he was sixteen years of age. He met and married Foutine Ayoub when they were both eighteen. Their first child was Helen(named for her grandmother), then George (named for his grandfather), and Edward. They also had a daughter who died at birth.

Jack Ogdee was adventurous and had no fear of the unknown. He traveled to the Rio Grande Valley in 1917 and liked San Benito. World War I was in progress, and Jack went to serve his new country. He came back to San Benito in 1919. All the streets were dirt. The Palm Grove Addition was the elite part of town.

Jack Ogdee opened his first store, a grocery business, on the corner of Robertson and Travis, then moved to the 100 block of S. Sam Houston where he had a little grocery and clothing store in the Palace Theater building. From there he moved to the Charles Morris Building (where Joe Alexandre's Jewelry store is now) and stayed there until 1934. In the fall of 1934 he bought a building built by Raymond Slaughter, which today is Val's Men's Wear, Dewey's and Parra's Loan Co. He remained at this location until he retired in 1945. He rented part of his building to Mar-Lon Dry Goods for ten years, then rented to his son, George Ogdee in 1947. George rented from his father until 1972 when he sold his business to Val Garcia.

After retiring from business in 1945, Jack went into the construction business and built several buildings on Robertson Street, Travis Street, and both the 100 and 200 blocks of S. Sam Houston. He rented a large building on Robertson to his son, Edward, for over 35 years. He also built and sold over 35 homes in San Benito to several people who were looking for homes.

Jack Ogdee and his family became members of All Saints Episcopal Church in the middle 1920's and have been members ever since. Jack passed away in October of 1973; his wife of 56 years passed away in August of 1972. Jack served two terms on the city commission, was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Shrine Temple, Lions, Elks, and several other clubs. His son Edward, born where the family lived above the store at the corner of Travis and Robertson, served as mayor of San Benito from 1964-1966.