PRESS RELEASE
DATE: March 16, 2015
FROM: Brunswick High School
CONTACT: Michael Draves, Principal
Brunswick High School
Phone: (330) 273-0495
BRUNSWICK – Five graduates from four different decades have been selected as the 2015 class of inductees into the Brunswick High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.
The inductees this year are Roger Mack, class of 1948; Leonard Bouman, class of 1962; Christine Ruf, class of 1968; Brent Walla, class of 1989; AmandaThompson, class of 1993.
The inductees will be honored at the Brunswick Education Foundation annual Spring Fling at Coppertop Restaurant at Cherokee Hills beginning at 6 p.m. April 25. The event also features the Sports Hall of Fame and the first-ever Brunswick Educational Access Television Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
Roger Mack is a U.S. Army veteran who has been active as a leader and volunteer throughout his lifetime. He is well known to many Brunswick residents because he drove a school bus for many years. He is also known as a champion for caring for senior citizens and those who are in nursing homes.
His fellow members of American Legion Post 234 and VFS Post 9520 call him “a patriotic giant” in the support of veterans and both organizations. He has served as post service officer for both groups, which involves assisting members of the Post, their widows and orphans and other worthy cases brought to his attention . He is always driving someone who needs help getting to an appointment.
He is coordinator of all nursing and assisted living home holiday events; volunteers in the American Legion “Gifts for the Yanks” annual fundraiser. He has served as Post 234 commander; Medina County Commander; 5th District Commander; Post 234 chaplain, membership chairman and quartermaster; was Buckeye Boys and Girls State chairman several years; was Honor Flight Guardian in 2009; and was service officer for both Post 234 and 9520. It’s no surprise he was Post 234’s Legionnaire of the Year. He also drove a school bus for the Brunswick Schools for 40 years. He resides in Valley City.
Leonard Bouman. Following his graduation from Brunswick High, he spent four years serving in the U.S. Navy. He returned to raise his family and joined the Coast Guard Reserve where he was a firearms instructor. He became a Brunswick police officer in 1969 where he served as a patrolman, detective, bike patrol officer, firearms instructor, drug investigation specialist, officer in charge and more. He also served as a liaison officer at Brunswick High School. At age 46, he was called back to active duty during Operation Desert Storm.
Bouman is an active member of the VFW where he has served as senior vice commander; coordinator for city parades; chairs Memorial Day and Veterans Day programs; was VFW Law Officer of the Year in 2006; was presented the Key to the City by Mayor Gary Werner in 2013 for outstanding service to the community in both law enforcement and veterans events. He is also active in cowboy shootout re-enactments. He resides in Brunswick.
Christine McGoun Ruf has served Medina County for 44 years in a variety of ways. For 30 years, she worked at the Medina County Welfare Department, as it was known then, helping low-income families meet their basic needs and secure a better future for their children. She was instrumental in the implementation of different social welfare programs that remain in effect today.
After retiring, she became director of the Help Me Grow Program as part of the Family First Council. Help Me Grow is an in-home intervention to help young families overcome any childhood deficits their children may experience. The program
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now has eight home visitors and is part of a collaborative effort with the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Health Department and the State of Ohio. About six years ago, she assumed the overall leadership for the Family First Council, a representative body of approximately 40 local social service agencies. She is active on the board of the Medina County Salvation Army and Society for Handicapped Citizens/The ARC and is a graduate of Leadership Medina County. She resides in Valley City.
Brent Walla graduated from Kent State University where he developed his event management skills when he worked for the university All Campus Programming Board on concerts and for a lighting and staging company where he learned structures, rigging and lighting design.
Brent went on to co-found an experiential marketing firm named Mowalla. Here he spent over a decade creating and producing large scale events such as Budweiser Bowl and Southern Comfort Music Tours as well as numerous concerts and festivals.
In 2012, Brent took on the challenge of producing large scale races when he joined the VAVI Sport & Social Group. He helped build VAVI’s obstacle race series including the Del Mar Mud Run and the Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge (ROC Race). Brent grew the ROC Race by taking it from an annual local event to a national event that is now partnered with the hit television show “Wipeout” and will tour 22 cities this year. In the fall of 2015, they will take the race international. He resides in Chula Vista, Calif.
Amanda Leech Thompson earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington Jefferson College where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her master’s degree form Duquesne University and her whole professional career has been working as a contractor for the U.S. Dept. of Energy. An avid volunteer, she has shown support for others in many ways from walking 60 miles in three days in the fight against breast cancer to Project Healing Waters and Casting for Recovery. Since 2009 she has served as vice president of Operation Troop Appreciation, a non-profit based in Pittsburgh, where she has coordinated volunteers raising support and funds to help more than 140,000 troops deployed throughout the world.
Thompson received the Pittsburgh Mayor’s Award for Citizen Service in 2012; the Pittsburgh Pirates Community Champion Award in 2013; the Jefferson Award in 2014; and most recently, the Artillery Order of Molly Pitcher, presented by the 1st Battalion, 107th Field Artillery Regiment. She resides in Pittsburgh.
Tickets for the event will be $40 for adults, $30 for students in grades K-12 and will be available from Brunswick Education Foundation board members, Jan Rizzo at the board offices or by calling 330-273-0201.
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