Ellinger resigns from fair manager’s job

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Paul Oechsle was fair manager for 20 years. His successor, Denis Ellinger, is leaving after five months. Ellinger submitted his letter of resignation at Wednesday’s Fair Board meeting, citing family responsibilities as his reason for leaving, according to reports.

Ellinger, an Ohio City native, moved back to the Van Wert area to be closer to his aging parents, but reportedly found that the fair manager’s job, while now part-time, was still too much to handle in conjunction with helping his parents.

An Ohio City-Liberty High School graduate and a former supervisor at Ohio City Manufacturing, Ellinger joined the U.S. Navy and ended up as a technician for attack aircraft. After leaving the Navy, Ellinger earned dual business degrees at The Ohio State University and later worked for Quaker Oats in Illinois.

He then moved to the South and spent 25 years in various materials management and procurement positions there. His last job before returning to the Van Wert area was as director of procurement for the University of South Carolina.

After he moved back to the area, Ellinger took a job with Procter & Gamble in Lima, but said he found himself putting in too many hours in that position. Ellinger said back in January when he took the fair manager’s job that the P&G position had turned into 13-hour days, something that kept him away from family responsibilities.

While he had hoped the fair manager’s position, which had been downgraded to a part-time job after Oechsle announced his retirement late last year, would be less time-consuming, the job apparently also took too much time away from his family.

Fair officials said Ellinger’s resignation is effective in July, but that he plans to continue to help organize this year’s Van Wert County Fair.

Troy Oechsle has been tabbed as the interim fair manager, but efforts are now underway to find a permanent replacement for Ellinger prior to the beginning of this year’s fair.