By Rick Palsgrove
Southeast Editor
The Groveport Madison High School Alumni Hall of Fame includes an astronaut, doctors, educators, historians, military heroes, community leaders, and more.
For many years the alumni hall of fame was located in the auditorium lobby of the old Groveport Madison High School on South Hamilton Road. But last year the alumni hall of fame had to find a new home when that school was demolished to make way for the new high school.
The newly refurbished Groveport Madison High School Alumni Hall of Fame will be re-dedicated with a ceremony on May 18 from 2:30-3:15 p.m. at Groveport Madison High School, 4475 S. Hamilton Road. The alumni plaques were professionally redone, complete with new frames, glass, and engraved plates. The plaques will be mounted on the walls of the alumni hall of fame’s new home in the new high school’s mezzanine. Following the May 18 ceremony, brief tours of the new high school will be available.
According to Kathy Frank of the Groveport Madison High School Alumni Association, the year long project to refurbish and relocate the alumni hall of fame was funded fully by Groveport Madison Schools.
“The district was instrumental with helping the Alumni Association Hall of Fame Committee preserve the history and honor our fellow Groveport Madison alumni Hall of Fame recipients,” said Frank.
Frank said she did not have exact figures of the total cost to refurbish the plaques, but the name plates were $615 and refurbishing the frames, matting, and so on was around $4,000.
“As far as retaking and refurbishing all of the pictures, Todd Gary volunteered his time and talents to help with this part of the project,” said Frank.
Frank said the alumni hall of fame began in 1985 and the first inductees were Nora Dowler Carruthers, Lillian Meloy, Grover Peters.
“The alumni hall of fame was started to honor fellow Groveport Madison graduates who contributed and dedicated their lives to their hometown, school, country, and the world,” said Frank. “From school teachers, public service, professors, inventors, NASA engineers, doctors, military heroes, to astronauts, to just to name a few,” said Frank. “Many people in our community and beyond are not aware of the contributions the recipients have made to our community, country, world. I’m also sure there are many other Groveport Madison alumni who have made their mark we are not yet aware of. We, as a committee, want to honor our fellow alumni by paying tribute to them and to have an area in our high school to showcase their accomplishments in an area that is available for the public to view any time the high school is open.”
The newest member of the Groveport Madison High School Alumni Hall of Fame will be Timothy A. Michael, a 1966 graduate, who will be inducted at the alumni banquet on May 18.
Michael graduated The Ohio State University in 1970 and was a Navy ROTC scholarship-midshipman battalion leader and varsity “O” lacrosse player who was first team all-league 1970. He was a U.S. Navy commissioned officer from 1970-74 and earned an MBA in business from Ohio State in 1976. He has had a successful career in investment banking and business as well as serving in several civic associations.
Michael, and his wife Lindy, in 2016, established and funded a merit and need based scholarship fund for deserving Groveport Madison graduates. They were able to give awards to 24 students in the last two years ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 for each of those 24 students. There are plans for establishing an ongoing Tim Michael Family Scholarship Fund for more Groveport Madison graduating seniors in the future.
126th annual Alumni Banquet
Groveport Madison High School’s 126th annual alumni banquet will be held May 18 at Groveport Madison Middle School Central, 751 Main St. Registration begins at 4:30 p.m. and dinner is at 5 p.m. Dinners are $16 each and reservations must be made by May 10. Send your check payable to Groveport Alumni Association, Box 382, Groveport, OH 43125. This year’s honored classes are the class of 1969, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the class of 1994, which is celebrating its 25th. Groveport Elementary and Middle School Central will be open for alumni visitation on May 18 from 3-4:30 p.m.
Alumni Hall of Fame members
Members of the Groveport Madison High School Alumni Hall of Fame in the order they were inducted and the year they graduated are:
Nora Dowler Carruthers, 1921; Lillian Meloy, 1918; Grover Peters, 1910; Malcolm “Mac” Sims, 1939; Warren E. Motts, 1959; Dr. Mark M. Zangmeister, 1950; Lana Hamler Borders, 1961; William A Smith, 1962; E. Eugene Wilson, 1936; Maxine Cole Drury, 1931; Robert Peters, 1941; Edgar Rarey, 1948; Frederick Mick, 1964; Ned Webster, 1949; Catherine Powell Weikart, 1921; Harry E. Miller, 1939; Thomas J. Hennen, 1970; Floyd F. Heil, 1930;
Dick Klamfoth, 1946; Jack .T Stultz, 1943; Admiral Thomas R. Wilson, 1964;
John D. Hummell, 1942; Louis Haines, 1946; Dr. Steven Miller, 1966; Ross L. Worch, 1966; Anna Cox Mann, 1939; Kathleen Grube Campbell, 1932; Terry L. McDowell, 1984; Kathryn McNabb Teeters, 1941; Dwayne Spence, 1961; Richard Palsgrove, 1974; Thomas Stevenson, 1963;
George Darfus, 1945; John T. Brown, 1958; Wayne E. Motts, 1985; Todd A. Carter, 1986; Janice Graham Nicholson, 1959; Dr. Jeffrey A. Myers, 1977; Jean Ann Brown Hilbert, 1963; Molly Palsgrove Davis, 1967; Louis Casperson, 1967; Robert Lindemuth, 1954; Steven Michael Smith, 1980; Mary Jane McCollister Metcalf, 1958; Dewey Stokes, 1960.
