Distinguished Alumni Award

Reading the resume of Dr. David E. Glow (’55) is like studying the history of medicine in the 20th century. He has done everything a medical provider could do, from delivering babies and conducting autopsies to working in emergency rooms and helping older patients die gracefully. And he’s worked at U.S. military bases, Indian reservations, sanitariums, universities – even a one-doctor office he built himself.

His success over that 55-year career is a direct result of the education he received at Ottawa Hills High School. “I don’t remember a lot of names of my college or medical school professors. But I remember every name of my high school teachers and how they taught me to study and appreciate education,” said Dr. Glow, 84. “I am just so grateful.”

“They were great teachers, but they were also human beings. You could talk to them. It was just an unbelievable experience. They taught me how to learn, how to study, and how to apply myself,” he added, noting that many classmates remain among his best friends in life. “Before Ottawa Hills, all my teachers were nuns at the Catholic school. So it was quite a change.”

For his contributions to the medical field and lifelong service, Dr. Glow was nominated for this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Dr. Glow was born and raised in Toledo; his parents were Dr. Edmond and Naomi Glow. (His father was a general practitioner who practiced in Toledo’s North End.) He attended parochial schools through 8th grade before entering Ottawa Hills. Graduating from Ottawa Hills High School would become a family affair, as his four younger siblings – Tom (’57), Michael (’60), Karen (’63), and Elaine (’66) – all followed him.

In high school, he played football, basketball, baseball, and ran track. He was the starting quarterback his junior year for the Arrows and was named Second Team All Maumee Valley League. But too many concussions forced him to stop playing. In fact, his father would not let him play basketball unless he wore a boxer’s helmet to protect himself from further injuries.

“That posed a lot of heckling from the opposition, needless to say,” Dr. Glow added.

He graduated magna cum laude in 1959 from the University of Notre Dame and then entered Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and joined the U.S. Naval Reserves. “I did really well at Notre Dame and the reason was because of the teachers and coaches I had at Ottawa Hills,” said Dr. Glow.

By the time he graduated from medical school in 1963, he was married and had four children. He completed a rotating internship at what was then called Maumee Valley Hospital, a facility owned and operated by Lucas County. The military then assigned him to a hospital at the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation in Winterhaven, Calif. He provided care for members of the Quechan, Papago, and Navajo nations. He was the facility’s only medical doctor and also ran its outpatient clinic.

“I had a terrific rotating internship at Maumee Valley and I worked separately in hospitals all through medical school because I had a family to support,” Dr. Glow recalled. “So I had a lot of experience. I wasn’t totally green.”

A year later, he was assigned to a reservation hospital near Clinton, Okla., where he took care of the Arapaho and Cheyenne nations. He returned to Maumee Valley Hospital for an internship, including serving patients in the adjacent sanitarium and tuberculosis hospitals. “I liked all of medicine. I didn’t just like the surgery part,” he said. “I was inherently a family physician. I liked to take care of families and kids, men and women, everybody.”

A local doctor colleague from Sierra Vista, Ariz., mentioned that the town was short on doctors. “After my internship, I packed up my station wagon and, in the first part of July, we drove through the desert. It was culture and climate shock all together,” he said. “But I really loved it. It was great.” Arizona would become his adopted home, and is where he and wife Gigi now live in retirement.

In Sierra Vista, he opened his own practice and mentored medical students from the University of Arizona Medical Center. About four years later, his father moved West and joined the practice, which became the largest in Cochise County. “I would do surgeries and provide anesthesia services to other doctors at Sierra Vista Community Hospital. I delivered babies and did my own internal medicine and pediatrics,” Dr. Glow said. “I got to practice a full, big range of medicine and I was in seventh heaven. I never had an unlisted number so it was a day-and-night thing.”

While in Sierra Vista, he co-founded a child abuse center and served on its board of directors and as medical director. He also served as the medical director for the city’s domestic violence shelter. As if he wasn’t busy enough, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors appointed him as county coroner. “We didn’t have a morgue so I had to do the autopsies in the funeral home,” he said. “We didn’t have an ambulance so we had to use the hearse from the funeral home as our ambulance.”

To augment his income during this time (he then had four children and a wife in college), he started working shifts in emergency rooms, first in Sierra Vista and later in Tucson, Ariz. He later passed his emergency medicine board certification, which led to an offer to become the emergency room director and base state director at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma, Ariz. “It was really jumping. There was no place to go to the doctor from San Diego in one direction to Phoenix in the other,” he said.

Seeking cooler weather, he and his wife within a few years moved to Payson, Ariz., where he worked as a senior emergency department physician. He also became active in serving the community’s hospice and nursing home patients, which ultimately led him to earn his third medical board certification (in hospice and palliative care).

“I went from taking care of live people … to coroner … to taking care of dying people,” Dr. Glow said. “I’ve had to change my thinking from a curative to palliative approach and was able to do so in large part because of the educational foundation I received at Ottawa Hills.”

OCCUPATION: Sports journalist

CURRENT HOMETOWN: Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Dennis

CHILDREN: Elizabeth and Christopher. Notes Ms. Barker: “Mom Susan still lives in the Village and is married to Ken Smith, father of Ottawa Hills classmate Kurt Smith (’79).” (Ms. Barker’s dad Vincent Barker is deceased.)

FAVORITE OH MEMORIES: “I was a kid who did pretty well in school but wasn’t overly ambitious. In the late 1970s, girls weren’t always encouraged to think about their professional futures. The one academic thing I did enjoy doing was writing for the school newspaper because it gave me a license to walk around and ask my schoolmates prying questions. Jackie Boyle, who was then the advisor for The Arrowhead, challenged me to write about some controversial subjects. One of them—“Hockey: Is it here to stay?”—ended up winning a high school contest. It was the first sports story I ever wrote, and got me thinking that I wanted to be a professional journalist.”

CAREER SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS: Ms. Barker is an award-winning sports columnist who has appeared as a commentator on NPR, ESPN, and TV and radio stations in the greater New York area. She was the first woman to cover the New York Jets and New York Knicks. She was named the “Best Sports Columnist” in New York by the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2016 and again in 2018. She has covered 15 NBA Finals, seven Super Bowls, and one World Series. She also covers the U.S. Open. Her writing began in high school on the staff of The Arrowhead. She also wrote for The Michigan Daily as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. She later earned a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

She has worked for Newsday (Long Island, NY) since 1995 as a beat writer, columnist, and senior sports writer. She often speaks on women’s issues in sports. Barbara was nominated by classmate Christine Brennan (’79): “My friend and colleague Barb Barker has been an important voice in the world of sports in New York and around the nation for more than 20 years. She is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday and is part of the generation of trailblazing women who paved the way for hundreds of women to join the sports media in the 21st century.”

OCCUPATION: Vice President of Development Resources at United Way of Greater Toledo

CURRENT HOMETOWN: Maumee, OH

SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER: John (50 years and counting!)

CHILDREN: Kirsten and Hans

FAVORITE OH MEMORIES: “The trip to Europe (summer of 1963) with rising juniors and seniors. We visited nine countries in eight weeks. The trip fueled my passion for travel, art, culture, and history.”

CAREER SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS: Mrs. Fedderke began her career as a family caseworker for the Lucas County Children’s Services Board. She then served in sales roles with United Business Products, Xerox, and Playtex Consumer Products. At Playtex, she was a regional manager for a 14-state territory.

She then began a 15-year career as director of institutional advancement at The Toledo Zoo while also serving as the president of the Zoo Foundation. Upon “retirement” from The Toledo Zoo, she became vice president of development resources at United Way of Greater Toledo.

Last year, the United Way of Greater Toledo raised almost $9 million and mobilized 1,000-plus volunteers to support about 50 partner organizations. “My career path may look somewhat circuitous, but it has led me to a truly satisfying career in development for nonprofit organizations that make this such a good community in which to live, work, and raise a family,” Mrs. Fedderke said. “The thread that runs through all of my jobs is my ability to make connections and build partnerships that result in greater impact.”

Among her honors, Mrs. Fedderke received a 2019 “YMCA Milestone Award” and has been recognized numerous times as an outstanding leader within the businesses she supports. Her current community service includes board membership with Black Swamp Conservancy, Toledo Area Partners for Philanthropic Planning, and Maumee Valley Country Day School. She also serves as a community liaison to the University of Toledo Student & Academic Affairs Committee; as a member of The Toledo Club, Toledo Rotary Club, Planned Parenthood, and Toledo Museum of Art President’s Council; as a trustee to the Medical College of Ohio Foundation; and as the United Way Metropolitan coordinator and Toledo Museum of Art Mini Museum coordinator.

OCCUPATION: Singer-songwriter, opera/concert singer, actress, producer, arranger, music director, creative director

CURRENT HOMETOWN: New York City

SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Divorced

CHILDREN: Stepchildren

FAVORITE OH MEMORIES: “I have so many, but I guess I would have to say in general it was all the wonderful teachers I had. Particularly Mr. O’Connell for history and then without question Eugene Jefferson for chorus, madrigals, and the musicals.”

CAREER SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS: A world-renowned classical singer, Ms. Hauman has portrayed more than 70 roles in more than 2,000 international performances. A graduate of Northwestern University, she received her break from legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, who put her in for an ailing June Anderson in the role of Cunegonde the only time he conducted his operetta “Candide” (with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1989 shortly before his death). This performance catapulted Ms. Hauman to more than 150 performances as Cunegonde over a six-year period.

She has performed with many symphonies and operas, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, New York City Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Dallas Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, and Toledo Opera. She made her theatrical debut in February 2009 to critical acclaim as Florence Foster Jenkins in “Souvenir, A Fantasia on Florence Foster Jenkins.” She later was nominated for “Best Performance in a Duo Comedy” by LA Theatre Awards.

She has received the “Richard Tucker Award,” given to a performer who has “reached a high level of artistic accomplishment and who, in the opinion of a conferral panel, is on the threshold of a major international career.” She returned to the classical stage in December 2019 at the Vienna State Opera, portraying three roles in the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s “Orlando.”

Shifting gears in the late 2010s, her 2015 album “Falling into Now” showcased the pop side with a blend of pop, jazz, orchestral, and alternative blue-eyed soul vibes. She built upon that style in her 2019 album “High Tides.” She also has served in numerous capacities for the indie rock-funk band Miss Velvet and The Blue Wolf. This fall, she launched an exciting new phase of her career with the album “The Quarantine Trilogy,” a series of improvisations that originated with her on piano.

OCCUPATION: U.S. Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

CURRENT HOMETOWN: Edgewood, KY

SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Kimberly

CHILDREN: Zach, Carmen, and Nick

FAVORITE OH MEMORIES: “Spending time with friends”

CAREER SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS: Judge Thapar is a U.S. Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, one of 13 appellate courts that sit below the U.S. Supreme Court. He was interviewed in July 2018 by President Trump to fill a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy (ultimately filled by Brett Kavanaugh).

Judge Thapar received a bachelor of science degree from Boston College in 1991 and a juris doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1994. He was a law clerk for three years before becoming a practicing trial attorney. He also was a trial advocacy instructor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

From 1999 to 2000, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. From 2002 to 2006, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and then as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2006-2007.

In 2007, President George W. Bush nominated him for an open seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. When he was commissioned in January 2008, he became the first U.S. federal judge of South Asian descent (his parents immigrated from India). His service on the District Court ended in May 2017 upon his elevation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, to which President Trump had nominated him.

OCCUPATION: Business leader

CURRENT HOMETOWN: East Lansing, MI

SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Ann Howell

CHILDREN: William and Gary Jr.

FAVORITE OH MEMORIES: “The many friends I made at Ottawa Hills”

CAREER SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS: Gary M. Woodbury served as president and chief executive officer of the Small Business Association of Michigan from December 1988 until his retirement in June 2003. He also served as president of the Small Business Foundation of Michigan and as secretary of the Small Business Resource Center, Inc., and its three subsidiary corporations. In September 1993, President Clinton appointed him one of 11 commissioners to the White House Conference on Small Business. Subsequently, he chaired 10 state conferences that preceded the June 1995 White House Conference on Small Business.

His career in business began after college when he joined the National Retail Furniture Association. In January 1982, he and a business partner started Retirement Plan Management Services, Inc. It assisted financial institutions throughout the country with the administration and marketing of their IRA and Keogh accounts as well as other retirement plans.

Throughout his career, he served on numerous boards, including the City Club of Lansing, Rotary Club of Lansing, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Michigan International Trade Coalition, National Small Business Association (NSBA), and the Alumni Association of Hillsdale College.

He also chaired many boards and initiatives, including the NSBA’s White House Conference on Small Business Committee, Michigan Society of Association Executives, and the Michigan Small Business Development Center Advisory Council. In 2000 during “Small Business Week,” he received a Lifetime “Special Achievement Award” for Advocacy from the U.S. Small Business Administration. In presenting the award, the Chief Counsel for Advocacy stated that Mr. Woodbury is one of the nation’s most visible small business advocates.

In 2006, he received the “Dr. John C. Howell Award” for “Outstanding Volunteer Service” from the Michigan Dyslexia Institute and was named to the Michigan Society of Association Executives Hall of Fame.

One of the alumni nominated this year to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award was Robert (Bob) Hinkle (’56). But before a ceremony could be conducted and his achievements acknowledged, Mr. Hinkle passed away in July at his Sylvania home.

Although born in Detroit, Mr. Hinkle grew up and achieved his success as an entrepreneur and civic leader in northwest Ohio. After graduating from Ottawa Hills, he attended The Ohio State University. At OSU, he was the football team equipment manager under head coach Woody Hayes and assistant coach Bo Schembechler. Mr. Schembechler and Mr. Hinkle became lifelong friends despite their difference in allegiance.

He left OSU to take a job with Owens Illinois as a management trainee in their Forest Products Division. It was not long before his entrepreneurial spirit took over and he started his own company.

With a $1,200 loan from Jim White, Sr., he founded Hinkle Manufacturing, Inc., a specialty packaging company. In 1989, Mr. Hinkle was named the “Northwest Ohio Entrepreneur of the Year” and his organization eventually grew to more than 17 individual companies.

After retiring from day-to-day operations, Mr. Hinkle founded Stonebridge Investment Partners with a group of friends as investors. Stonebridge invested in and revitalized a number of companies and was eventually acquired because of its success.

Surviving are his wife of more than 54 years, Margaret Monasmith; sons Tab (Anne Marie), Scott, and Tyler (Ahlennah Belton) Hinkle; grandchildren Isabelle, Addison, and Bobby; dogs Bo and Crunchy; and many friends too numerous to name.

Betsy Brady is a well-known business leader, community advocate, philanthropist, and fundraiser in northwest Ohio. She entered Ottawa Hills Local Schools in kindergarten and received all of her early education there, graduating as valedictorian of the Class of 1964. She then attended and graduated from Smith College, where she also met her future husband Tom. They married and returned to Toledo in 1971, started a family, and it has been home ever since.

The Bradys founded Plastic Technologies, Inc., in 1985. Since then, PTI has become globally recognized within the industry for sustainable packaging innovation, supporting nearly all major consumer goods companies and more than 1,000 clients across the globe. Over time, PTI has expanded into six operating companies in northwest Ohio and Europe, with Mrs. Brady active in all of them. She is currently Chairman of the Board.

She also has been actively engaged in the community and other local businesses her entire life, taking on numerous and varied leadership positions, including as chairman of the Toledo Area Chamber of Commerce in 1990 (the first woman to lead the group). She is a past (and first woman) board chair of the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA), where she remains a very active board member. Other major involvements and leadership positions include ProMedica, the University of Toledo (UT), Toledo Community Foundation, Toledo School for the Arts (TSA), Junior League of Toledo, and Boys & Girls Clubs.

The Bradys were recognized jointly as Philanthropists of the Year in 2009. Committed to education and innovation, they have endowed entrepreneurship programs at UT and several other schools, TMA’s Fund for Creative Leadership, TSA’s Music Technology studio, and most recently, the UT College of Education’s Brady Partnership Schools Program to experientially prepare early-childhood teachers for urban schools.

Mrs. Brady has received numerous leadership honors, including the Chamber of Commerce Athena Award, YWCA Milestones, Junior League’s Mary Harriman Award, and ProMedica’s Excellence in Governance Award.

Mrs. and Mr. Brady have three children: Kathy Lathrop, Cynthia Brady-Falik, and Rick Brady, and 12 wonderful grandchildren.

Mr. Kadens is a dedicated philanthropist and organizational leader who seeks to transform lives and strengthen communities. While at Ottawa Hills, he served as the class president throughout high school and as a multi-year captain  of both the basketball and track teams.

He currently serves as chairman of The Kadens Family Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to closing the pervasive wealth and education gaps in the United States. He retired in August 2018 as chief executive officer of Green Thumb Industries, one of the largest publicly traded, legal cannabis operators in the country with a current market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

Prior to Green Thumb Industries, Mr. Kadens started SoCore Energy in 2008, one of the largest commercial solar companies in the nation. Under his leadership, SoCore expanded operations into 17 states and was named one of Chicago’s most innovative businesses by Chicago Innovation Awards. In 2013, he sold SoCore to Edison International,  a Fortune 500 energy-holding company. Over his 16-year career as a chief executive, Mr. Kadens employed more than 4,000 people and created over $5 billion in shareholder value.

Mr. Kadens was awarded the “Trailblazer Chicago Award” by The Cara Program in 2019; the “Catalyst Man of the Year” by Streetwise in 2015; and the “Distinguished Alumnus for Citizenship” in 2010 by his alma mater, Bucknell University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science. He also was named one of the “40 Under 40” by Crain’s Chicago Business in 2012. He was named one of the "20 People to Watch" in the Cannabis Industry in 2018 by Marijuana Business Daily.

He is a 2019 Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute, a fellowship that accepts only 20 individuals from around the world each year who have been identified as individuals who have the capacity to create ventures that solve one of society’s intractable problems.

Mr. Kadens is married to Amy (Robbins) Kadens ’99. They have three amazing kids who already understand their love and affection for their hometown. In 2018, the Kadens made a leadership gift to the Ottawa Hills Schools Foundation that is making possible the creation of the Kadens Family Fitness Center.

Mrs. Levenson is an internationally known painting conservator and author. An art history major and chemistry minor at Wellesley College, she went on to do graduate work in art conservation at Harvard University.

Her first jobs after Harvard were in Canada: first at the Canadian Conservation Institute and then at the National Gallery of Canada. She credits high school teachers Mr. Neidermeier, Mr. Kreutzfeld, and Mr. Docis with preparing her for the many science classes she took at Wellesley and Harvard and the incomparable Mr. Fontaine for teaching her enough French  to work in government positions in a bilingual country.

She moved to New York in 1976 to join the Painting Conservation Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While on staff, the Met reinstalled the Italian, Dutch, and Impressionist Galleries, giving her an opportunity to treat a wide variety of works. In 1981, she opened her private conservation studio. With referrals from Met colleagues, she founded ArtCare Conservation (artcareconservation.com), and began working with museum, corporate, and private clients throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

In 1986, Mrs. Levenson opened a second studio in Miami, Florida, and recently a third in Los Angeles. Her teams of conservators treat paintings from all eras. Recent projects include the monumental “Domes of Yosemite” by Albert Bierstadt from the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum in Vermont; the “Coronation of the Virgin,” a 1492 collaboration between Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli from the Bass Museum of Art; a series of 14 paintings by Donald Judd for the Judd Foundation; and numerous works by Salvador Dali for the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Having drinks in the old King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel in New York would give fellow alumni an opportunity to see her studio’s work on the Maxfield Parrish mural there.

In addition to conserving paintings and supervising conservation studios, she and art historian Andrea Kirsh co-authored “Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies.” The award-winning book is used in art history courses and graduate schools. She lives in Miami with her husband, Randal, a photographer. Their three children live in Brooklyn, New York, and New Haven, Connecticut.

Mr. Shopneck is general partner of Denver-based Pinetree Financial Partners, which he founded in 1990. He graduated from the University of Toledo with degrees in business and history while working for Sheller-Globe Corporation. After moving to Denver, he earned master’s and law degrees from the University of Denver. He quickly realized that investing in real estate and not a career in law was his chosen path. Colorado and the West allowed him “to spread my entrepreneurial wings.” He met his wife Cappy while in graduate school; the couple have two sons and this year they celebrate a 40th wedding anniversary.

His business career began through investing in small houses near the University of Denver. He parlayed those investments into building new homes; renovating apartment buildings and converting them to condominiums; buying and building mobile home parks in Florida; and other real estate investments throughout the country. As business grew, he realized that making loans on real estate also presented a great opportunity so he moved into commercial lending. Today, the private bank he founded is the largest of its kind in Colorado.

Service has always been important to him, such as when he became an Eagle Scout while in high school. As a young businessman, he joined the board of trustees of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. In recognition of his 35 years of service, he received the organization’s “Champion of Youth Award.” Mr. Shopneck made the lead gift and spearheaded fundraising to construct the Denver region’s first new club since 1964. The Robert M. Shopneck Boys & Girls Club opened  in 2007 and annually serves the largest number of children of any of the Club’s branches.

In addition to the Boys & Girls Clubs, his public service includes 10 years on the board of the Yellowstone Association, the educational partner of Yellowstone National Park. He currently serves as vice chair of the board of the Western National Parks Association. In addition, he is chair of the Denver Tennis Club and recently made a lead gift for the Denver Tennis Park, a new facility in central Denver. He also has supported the University of Denver with the Shopneck Writing Center.

Dr. Catherine L. Webb, MD, learned curiosity, concentration, compassion, integrity, and hard work from her teachers at Ottawa Hills as well as her parents. She graduated from Smith College with a major in geology in 1970 and tried on several “career coats” before settling on a career as a physician with the help of one of her mentors at the University of Toledo.

She graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1980. After hearing a lecture in medical school by a pediatric cardiologist, she became fascinated by congenital heart disease. She spent nine years in clinical training at the University of Michigan. In 1989, she joined Children’s Memorial Hospital (now Lurie Children’s Hospital) at Northwestern University, retiring as professor emeritus in 2010. She then returned to the University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center and currently works as an outreach pediatric cardiologist in Northern Michigan.

Dr. Webb is internationally known with more than 50 published peer-reviewed papers. She served more than 30 years on many American Heart Association councils and committees, and chaired the Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young. She has been a journal reviewer for many medical journals and a speaker at many meetings. She has received numerous research grants, the recent focus of which is telemedicine and how it improves care to patients in outlying areas and the diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease in Third World countries.

She is a governing member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a Sustaining Fellow of the Art Institute of Chicago. She continues her membership at the Toledo Museum of Art. She has been a director-at-large of the Alumnae Association of Smith College.

Dr. Webb is grateful for an idyllic childhood in Ottawa Hills, where  she ran and played outside all day long, walked home from school for lunch daily, and sadly learned that Santa Claus was really her parents on one of those lunchtime walks. She and her small class of 89 students spent 12 formative years together and, in 2016 she enjoyed with them their 50th reunion.

Dr. Webb splits her time between Chicago and Frankfort, Michigan. Her daughter, Cynthia Barton, is an architect in Brooklyn.

Dr. Geiger is one of the nation’s top pediatric surgeons and serves as a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences and as a professor of surgery in the Section of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Michigan.

Ms. Lynn is a journalist whose work has appeared in Time and Newsweek, as well as in poems, novels, and non-fiction books. Her coverage of Brazil for the Brazilian embassy in Washington, D.C., resulted in her receiving the “Order of the Rio Branco” by the Brazilian government.

Mr. Peeler is a former assistant district attorney in New York who now leads several departments at the law firm of Arent Fox in New York. He has appeared as a commentator on national news programs and been quoted in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Mr. Mindel is an entrepreneur and pioneer in the restaurant industry. He was the first American to win the prestigious “Caterina de Medici” medal for preservation of Italian heritage. He also is founder of Il Fornaio, a chain of West Coast restaurants celebrating Italy’s culinary traditions.

Mr. Roberts has 35 years of experience in education, from teacher and dean of students to director of an outdoor leadership school. Each summer, a group of Ottawa Hills students joins him in Naro Moru, Kenya, as part of his Summer Learning in Kenya program.

Christine Brennan is an award-winning national sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator for ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour and NPR, a best-selling author, and nationally-known speaker. Twice named one of the country’s top 10 sports columnists by the Associated Press Sports Editors, she has covered the last 17 Olympic Games, summer and winter.

Christine earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a member of the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement. During her time at OHHS, Christine was the Editor of the Arrowhead, a six-sport athlete, and the Salutatorian of the class of 1976.

Reflecting on her time at OH, Christine says: “I barely can remember what I had for lunch a few days ago, but I certainly can remember the lessons that specific OHHS teachers gave, the books we read, the assignments we were given and the fun we had in class, on the playing field and putting out the Arrowhead – and I graduated 40 years ago. That’s the impact that Ottawa Hills has had on my life.”

Dr. Craig Burkhart was actively involved in the theatre program at OHHS. He had the lead role of Tony in West Side Story as well as other productions during his high school career. He played three sports and won the Ohio High School Athletic Association state tennis doubles title with fellow alumnus John Buckey (’70).

"I would like to thank Ottawa Hills High School for preparing me both in intelligence and character for future challenges. The teachers taught me to believe in myself and have confidence in my abilities," he said.

Dr. Burkhart has embraced the Green Bear attitude of being a lifelong learner. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, his Doctor of Medicine from the Medical College of Ohio, and his Master of Public Health from the University of Toledo.

Dr. Burkhart owns six U.S. patents, is current editor of three journals, and is author of over 700 publications and 25 book chapters in the fields of entomology, parasitology, dermatology, otology, and internal medicine. He lives in the Toledo area with his wife, Anna. They have three children – Kristina, Craig, and Heidi – and six grandchildren.

Mr. Carson has had an extraordinarily distinguished career in both the business world and in transformational leadership of non-profit organizations in the fields of education, healthcare, social service, community development, and cultural institutions. Russ earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Dartmouth College in 1965, and his Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School in 1967.

The Carson family has been focused on providing opportunities for those with disadvantaged backgrounds that have transformed the lives of countless families. Perhaps most notable is Russ’s founding 18 years ago of the Partnership for Inner City Education, which he continues to oversee. This group has raised millions of dollars for scholarships that allow thousands of students to attend Catholic inner-city schools in New York City.

Mr. Carson has also had a significant impact on some of our most important local institutions, including the first Toledo Public Schools Boys & Girls Club partnership at Sherman School. This pilot paved the way for the thriving collaboration today in three TPS schools, changing thousands of lives and serving some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, including at the Carson Family Club at Marshall School in the South End.

He is married to Judy, and has two children, Cecily and Edward.

The ceramic work of Richard DeVore is unprecedented. During his career, the veteran artist and teacher specialized in ceramic potswith a distinctive, sophisticated look that transcended traditional notions of clay vessels. His work is known for simple, organic forms finished in dull glazes that suggest polished stones, sun bleached bones, or even translucent skin.

Mr. DeVore earned a bachelor of education degree with an art major from the University of Toledo in 1955, and earned his master of fine arts degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1957. In 1966, he became head of the ceramics department at Cranbrook Academy of Art. He was a member of the Colorado State University art faculty from 1978 to 2004. In 1987, he was installed as a fellow of the American Craft Council.

His work is represented in more than 40 institutions worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

He was married to wife Jan. The couple had two children, Nik and Tori.

Mr. Galbraith is the last remaining member of the Ottawa Hills Class of 1941 – OH’s first graduating class.

He was an active student at OHHS, participating in theatre, basketball, and football. He went on to the University of Michigan, and three years later, went into the Navy as an officer. Thereafter, Mr. Gailbraith attended law school at the University of Michigan. He worked in a few local businesses in the Toledo area, and then became an Ohio legislator, serving from 1966 to 1986. He and his wife Cynthia have been married 66 years, and had four children: John Michael, Cindy, Goeffrey, and Tenley.

Mr. Galbraith and his Class of 1941 classmates shaped the course of Ottawa Hills history by helping to get the bond issue for the new Ottawa Hills High School passed. As the first graduating class, they established a tradition of academic excellence, student involvement, and dedication to the school they love that continues to define Ottawa Hills today.

“Ottawa Hills played a major part in my life," he said. "You can't measure the benefits I received from Ottawa Hills. It was a wonderful period. A wonderful time. I have treasured memories of it."

Mr. Staelin worked for more than a half century in the labs and classrooms of Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science. During his MIT career, he taught generations of students in electrical engineering and advised over one hundred and forty graduate students on their theses. He was assistant director of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory from 1990-2001.

He co-discovered the Crab nebula pulsar in 1968 as a radio astronomer and later pioneered air quality monitoring networks and video teleconferencing. The discovery of the Crab nebula pulsar provided proof of neutron stars, whose existence was predicated by theoretical physicists.

In 1977, Mr. Staelin worked on the NASA Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft missions, studying radio emissions from other planets.

Mr. Staelin was described by family and friends as brilliant, self-effacing in nature, and devoted to the open exchange of scientific information. He was engaged with people and engaged in life.

Ms. Stuckey was born and raised in Toledo.  She moved to Ottawa Hills in 1965 in the 3rd Grade. While at OH, she was active in the Girls Athletic Association (GAA) and many sports. Sally graduated from Wellesley College in 1978 with a degree in Psychology.

After graduation, she moved back to Toledo and worked at several area companies including Fox Software. Ms. Stuckey was a part of the original development team of FoxPro, an innovative database program that combined speed and database management in a user-friendly program. It was the first of its kind, the program had the ability to link Macintosh and PC networks and share databases between them. Not only was that type of compatibility innovative, it contained the fastest PC-based database engine available at the time.

In 1992, Fox was bought by Microsoft and she moved to Redmond, Wash. She retired in 2002 and moved back to Toledo in 2003. In her retirement, she enjoys volunteering with Humane Ohio, a low-cost spay-neuter clinic. She enjoys kayaking, sailing, gardening, walking, golf, and tennis.

"OHHS gave me the fundamental skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and confidence to always challenge myself in both my personal and professional life," Ms. Stuckey said.