West Aurora grads to be in hall of honor
Six West Aurora High School graduates will be inducted on Nov. 3 into the school's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Honor.
Selected by an alumni association committee from dozens of nominations are:
H. Ashley Barber '29, an inventor of road building and materials-handling equipment used throughout the world;
Kathleen (Forsell) Caldwell '79, a research chemist with the National Center for Environmental Health who tackles diverse health issues, including the causes of preventable brain damage in children;
George F. Everitt '61, a research chemist with 3M Corp. who developed heat-resistant ceramic fibers that today form the tiles on the space shuttle;
Dr. R. Lawrence Hatchett '77 a national leader in the field of urinary medicine;
Edward Ochsenschlager '50, an educator and researcher who made major contributions to the disciplines of cultural anthropology and archaeology;
Dr. Jacqueline Pongracic '79, whose noteworthy medical practice at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago and academic research at Northwestern University is aimed at ending the suffering of children from allergies and asthma.
The six will be honored at a banquet and induction ceremony beginning at 5:30 p.m., Nov. 3 at West Aurora High School, 1201 W. New York St., Aurora. Tickets are $35. Contact Randi Ochsenschlager '64 at (630) 301-5033 or rlochsens@sd129.org to order tickets. Advise her of your choice of dinner entrée (beef, chicken or vegetarian).
Student music groups will provide entertainment during the evening. Money raised from the banquet helps pay for two $2,000 student scholarships. Funding for the Hall, banquet and scholarships will be secured from private and corporate donors who support the alumni association.
The Hall of Honor inductees will have their plaques, along with their biographies, displayed in the foyer of the high school auditorium.
The Hall of Honor program has two goals, says Alumni Association President William Foote '50. One is to honor distinguished alumni for their achievements. The other is to raise the self-expectations of West Aurora High School students with the realization that the alumni grew up in their neighborhoods and attended their school.
The Hall of Honor program began last year. The 10 alumni already in the Hall are: retired Army major general Max Baratz '52, former broadcast journalist John Drury '45, teacher and artist Ruth VanSickle Ford '15, opera singer Eric Halfvarson '70, retired Navy admiral and current energy company executive H. William Habermeyer '60, Harvard University associate professor Dr. Arthur Lage '61, artist and illustrator Wendell Minor '62, health care executive Paul Ormond '67, meteorologist Tom Skilling '70 and satellite television pioneer Robert Taggart '61.
In the past three years, the alumni association has published a directory with information on 9,000 alumni, assisted with dozens of reunions and developed an online alumni directory of more than 1,000 graduates. For more information, call alumni director Mike Chapin at 630-301-5044, or e-mail him at mchapin@sd129.org or visit the Web site at www.sd129.org/alumni.