Arthur O. Ackenbom was born in La Plata, Missouri, on July 3, 1913. He married Roberta B. Brandon (1918-2003) on September 4, 1937; their children were Roberta Maryetta (born October 4, 1938), Arthyna Jodyne (1945-1946), and Arabelle Lena (born January 16, 1952). Ackenbom attended high school in Dewey, Oklahoma, and junior colleges in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and Coffeyville, Kansas. He received his B.S. from Oklahoma A&M College in 1934 and two master's degrees from the same school in 1935 and 1940. He also attended the Perkins School of Theology at SMU, the Iliff School of Theology (Denver, Colorado), and Columbia University's Union Theological Seminary. He served as a lay pastor in Oklahoma City 1944-1947 and as a student pastor in Texas and Colorado 1947-1950. He was admitted to full membership in the Colorado conference, ordained deacon in June 1950 and ordained elder in June 1951. He transferred to the Kansas Conference in June 1952, serving at Quindaro Methodist Church, Kansas City, Kansas, during the 1950s. Ackenbom's personnel record says that he was "appointed to attend school" in June 1957. He is listed as "supernumerary" in 1958-1960, then as Chaplain of the Methodist Home for the Aged in 1961 and 1962. After some additional appointments, he was transferred to the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference in 1967. Rev. Ackenbom died in Oklahoma on July 11, 1988; at that time his membership was in the North Texas conference. His memoir is listed in the North Texas Conference Journal for 1989, page 288.

Note written by Sarah St. John