Surrounded by family members, Dale Oden, minister of pastoral care at Temple Baptist Church, marked his 80th birthday Thursday with a drive-thru celebration that snaked through Savannah Trace for more than an hour. A Ruston fixture since joining the Temple staff in February of 1976, Oden was scheduled to observe this milestone birthday while in Germany with others from the church family during a trip to the historic Oberammergau Passion Play. With the trip postponed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oden enjoyed scores of well wishes from longtime friends within the Lincoln Parish community.