Class Reunion - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Class Reunion

Seated L-R: Tom Henke, Stan Pleiman, Agnes (Benannter) Fisher, Shirley (Ernst) Hamilton, Doug Barhorst. Middle Row L-R: Joan (Borchers) Montenegro, Shirley (Moeller) Suchland, Carol (Schafer) Henke, Sue (Busse) Heyne, Louise (Tearnan) Kennard, Mildred (Peoppelman) Eilerman, Mary Lou (Bruns) Meyer, Linda (Luttmer) Fiessinger. Back Row L-R: Frank Schafer, Dave Boerger, Larry Stang, Nancy (Hoying) Pleiman, Mary (Ernst) Klein, Judy (Marshal) Cron, Paul Zircher, Larry DeLoye, John (Spike) Meinerding.

This past weekend our Ft. Loramie High School class of 1966 held our 55th class reunion, with 22 of 37 attending and 5 deceased. The event was held at Morrie’s and a great time was had by all. The Committee made up of Mary, Doug, Frank and Agnes really did a bang up job organizing everything including a fantastic menu with Agnes’s famous pies, a big screen TV with a running photo collage of classmates going way back to first grade with Miss Quinlin and even some baby pictures!

This past blog shares some of those first grade memories. How teacher Miss Quinlin kept us in order is anybody’s guess. Taking the group photo after 55 years was difficult enough as evidenced by this class photo headed for the trash heap. No body was paying attention to the camera and a couple appeared asleep!

The Committee asked me to provide the Welcome and Invocation, which I readily accepted since it gave me a chance to apologize for missing the 50th class reunion due to a family wedding. They were told the wedding couple is now unfortunately divorced, so I should have attended! During the Invocation, we held a moment of silence for our 5 deceased classmates; Ken Sanders (1965), Rick Wuebker (1998). Pat (Monnin) Boerger (2003), Fred Schulze )2012) & Linda (Siegel) Pleiman (2020).

In addition to the video photo collage, the Committee had Yearbooks going back to the 50’s, plus an informative booklet for everyone with classmate contact information as well as varsity letters showing four straight years as County Baseball League champions. Go Redskins!

One of the many highlights of the evening for me was reacquainting with the two female classmates who were featured in this past blog about some memorable kisses!

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John Tierney - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

John Tierney

After last week’s blog touching on the 1954 merger between Nash and Hudson to form American Motors, an ironic coincidence occurred this past week. I attended the funeral of a friend and colleague who died at age 90. His name is John Tierney, who was the chair of a charitable foundation board I’m on. We had just honored him at our recent golf outing supporting the foundation that occurred on his 90th birthday. Countless times I’ve attended funerals of friends and learned during the obituary or eulogy of major accomplishments or deeds by the deceased that I had never known about. John’s funeral really surprised me in that regard, as I discovered he had been the CFO of American Motors at the time of their merger with Chrysler Corporation in 1987. That was just the tip of the iceberg regarding John’s background.

The funeral mass was presided by a Benedictine priest who had become a cleric later in life thanks in large part to John’s intervention. While considering entering the priesthood, he had befriended John and had confided in him that as an only child, he feared he could not properly support his aging parents as a priest. John told him to enter the seminary and he’d make sure his parents were taken care of financially. The rest is history!

In the eulogy, I also discovered that John and his wife Barbara lost a daughter at a young age to cancer. Their faith allowed them to move past the devastating grief and led them to adopt a disabled young girl whom they raised and helped overcome her disabilities. I had the opportunity to meet the amazing young lady at the wake.

The Benedictine priest also shared a story about John’s involvement in the sale of American Motors to Chrysler in 1987. As Chief Financial Officer, John became intimately involved in the high stakes negotiations, knowing full well that after the merger, he would likely be out of a job. A typical ego-bound executive would have carved out some golden parachute for himself in the merger agreement, but not John. Instead, he was steadfast that all the American Motors employees were protected after the merger with ironclad terms that protected jobs, pensions and healthcare. The Chrysler CEO on the other side of the table during the tense negotiations was so impressed with John’s integrity and skills that about a month after the merger he called John on a Sunday to ask if he could come over to his house. In John’s living room, he was offered the job of Chrysler Financial CEO, which John lead until his retirement in 1994.

After retiring, John dedicated his life to his many charitable causes, through one of which we met. John and his wife Barbara were active members in an amazing Catholic charitable organization called the Order of Malta that’s been in existence since 1099; that’s right over 1000 years! The order's website states “ Our programs include medical and social assistance, disaster relief in the case of armed conflicts and natural catastrophes, emergency services and first aid corps, help for the elderly, the handicapped and children in need and the provision of first aid training, and support for refugees and internally displaced persons regardless of race, origin or religion.” John and Barbara’s support for the Order of Malta entailed annual pilgrimages each May to Lourdes where the order helped escort the sick visit the famous grotto to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary for a cure. John and Barbara also had the honor of representing the Order while visiting the Vatican for an audience with St. John Paul II.

Never once in the 15 or so years I knew John did he mention any of these achievements. After each of our Board meetings, we would adjourn to a local restaurant for lunch and I always made it a point to sit next to John, as his intellect and insight were exceptional. We would talk current events, politics and compare notes on local sports teams. His love of fly fishing would also surface if he had just returned from one of his many fishing trips.

Sorry that this blog has nothing to do with my memories of back home, but the coincidence of John’s passing and his surprising background just after writing last week’s blog compelled me to share the awesome story of this remarkable man and his deep faith.

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Nash - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Next Blog - Nash Ambassador

My blog a few weeks ago about an uncle in the furniture business got me thinking about the various professions of some of my other uncles. For example, my uncle Ed lived in Dayton and was an executive for Dayton Tire & Rubber back in the 1950’s. He drove a big ole Nash Ambassador model like the one pictured here. It was likely his company car and was considered a luxury vehicle by the standards of the day, but to me it literally was the ugliest car I have ever seen. It was nicknamed the “Kenosha Duesenberg”, but I considered it the "Kenosha Edsel”.

The car was the first model ever to be designed with reduced aerodynamic drag, which the company developed after World War II using its wind tunnels funded by the government to develop airplanes for the war effort. The body style was appropriately named Airflyte and included the first application of curved glass windows.

The car literally was a boat, with a huge turning radius because the articulation of the front wheels was severely limited due to the fender skirts to improve aerodynamics. Each summer I’d ride back to Dayton in the car with the family for a week stay to experience the city slicker life as documented in this previous blogpost.

The car had a huge interior that easily held their family of 7 and me, 3 in the front and 5 in the back. Plus the seats could be turned into twin travel beds as shown in these photos.

The trunk was huge due to the sweeping rear end, providing all kinds of room for luggage and belongings.

The Nash was heavy and underpowered with a 235 cubic inch in-line 6 and a three speed column stick shift because the company could not afford to develop its own V8 or automatic transmission. In the mid-50’s, Nash merged with the Hudson Motor Company, who had a V8 and auto transmission. The new company became American Motors.

The only other Nash I recall as a kid was driven by the Fuller Brush man who visited our farm about twice a year. Mom always was suckered into buying something from him, cause he was a real fast talker. Dad hated it when the guy would show up with the trunk and back seat full of all kinds of household items for sale.

There was even a 1948 movie spoof about the Fuller Brush Man starring Red Skelton, Dad’s favorite comedian. I’ll have to write a future blog about the many memorable variety show comedian’s from my youth. Stay tuned, Fish Report readers.

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