Dr. Donald J. Kintner, Class of 1943, was nominated by Dr. Robert Hines. Kintner has been on a professional management council and a Chief Executive Officer for more than forty years.
One of his corporations deals with the reorganization, merging and/or liquidation of corporations and governmental agencies internationally. His other corporation operates simultaneously and is involved with the development, management and brokerage of high-rise office buildings. He has served many lawyers, banks, governmental agencies, bankruptcy and superior courts in evaluating reorganizing and negotiating on behalf of these clients.
In his earlier years, Kintner created the first supermarket check out system, the first self-service variety store and the first computerized department store. Kintner has served as an officer, board member and committee chairman for over thirty civic organizations and as an executive coordinator for a presidential inauguration. He was selected as the first non-lawyer to serve on the California State Bar court as a referee where he served for nine years.
As a member of Rotary, he has served as club secretary, board member and board of director of International Committee and a chairman of the East District Foundation Committees. He is a six-time Paul Harris Fellow and a Rotary Benefactor. He has been awarded the highest civic honors given in the Freedoms Foundation, the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles and the Boy Scouts of America, where he served as Council President. In 1968 he was selected as the Outstanding Alumni of Kent State University.
Kintner and his wife Sally have been married for forty-eight years and are the parents of three children. Their son is a nursing Captain in the Air Force and a daughter is a primary teacher in San Diego. Kintner uses his retirement time to pursue his interests in writing, music, portrait painting and civic activities.
Thomas M. Kishman, Class of 1967, was nominated by Mike Hoopes, Class of 1965, with supporting letters from Linda Unkefer Simms and Mike Simms, both from Class of 1967.
Among his achievements in high school, Kishman served as vice president of his senior class and participated in football all four years. He was selected as a tackle on the Tri-County League's Football All Star First Team. After high school he worked for his father, George Kishman, who opened Kishman's Grocery in 1954. In 1989 Tom and his wife Jan purchased the store at its present location. A few years later they enlarged the store and now employ approximately eighty people.
In his letter of nomination Hoopes wrote, "Tom has distinguished himself as a nationally recognized independent grocer having successfully operated Kishman's IGA for over twenty years. He has been and is a devoted supporter and promoter of everything Minerva. Tom and his wife live on a fifty-acre farm at the edge of Minerva with future hopes of expanding the business. Tom is married to Jan (nee Kiko) and they have three children: Thomas II, Matthew and Kristin."
Kishman's awards are many including: IGA International Retailer of the Year in 1994, Ohio Grocer’s Hall of Fame Inductee in 2005, National IGA Retailer of the Year Finalist in 2009, Minerva Service Clubs' Minerva Man of the Year in 2002 and the YMCA Red Triangle Award.
Kishman has an outstanding record of service to his community. He chaired and directed the first Lost French Gold Festival, he is a past president of the Minerva Chamber of Commerce, past president of Rurit ans, a member of the Lincoln Highway Association, past director of the Ohio Grocer’s Association, and is on the Laurel Grocer’s IGA Advisory Board. He is on the Board of Directors of Consumer’s Bank and has served in service capacities for the YMCA, the Special Olympics, the Salvation Army, the Minerva Boosters Club, and the PTO annual rigatoni dinner.
Hoopes concluded his nomination by writing, "Tom is an outstanding alumnus with a distinguished career and long record of community involvement and has significantly contributed to the support of Minerva. I believe his record of consistent service, successful business operations and love of family reflect his character and is worthy of recognition and proudly place his name in nomination."
Dr. Frederick N. Klippert, who was nominated to the Alumni Hall of Fame by his sister Nancy Klippert Parker, has dedicated his life to the medical profession. He graduated from Mount Union College in 1962, The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1966, served his internship at Midland Community Hospital (1966-1967), served at Akron City Hospital (General Surgery, 1969-1970), and the University of Michigan Medical Center (Residency-Otolaryngology 1970-74) and received his American Board of Otolaryngology certification in 1974.
Fred served as captain in the U. S. Air Force at Grand Forks Air Force Base, Grand Forks, North Dakota, from 1967 to 1969. He has had private practices in Michigan and Ohio. He and his wife Julianne are presently living in Evans, Georgia where he serves assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia, and is section head in the Deptartment of Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Augusta.
Fred has had many administrative responsibilities, committee assignments and training grants. His biography includes presentations at national, regional and state meetings, many professional exhibits and audiovisual programs, abstracts, publications in both non-refereed and refereed journals.
From 1988 to 1997 he took one resident a year at his expense to provide them with exposure and experience in providing humanitarian service at the Midwest Medical Mission-Volunteer Medical Service in the Dominican Republic. Another community service was his service on the Board of Trustees, Midwest Medical Mission from 1990 through 1991.
His awards and honors include the American Academy of Family Physicians for participation as active teacher of family practice residents in 1986; St. Luke's Hospital Medical Staff for service rendered as Section Head in 1990; and in May 1998, he was singled out by the Medical College of Georgia for contribution to patient care, education and research.
Nancy Parker said in her nomination of her brother, "From the time he was a little boy, Fred knew he wanted to become a doctor. He followed his dream and has shared his knowledge and skills with hundreds of residents and has helped countless patients with reconstructive surgery, restoring their self-worth and esteem. Fred has dedicated his life to the medical profession. He is a skilled otolaryngology surgeon, providing very satisfactory results in all manner of reconstruction of the head and neck. He regularly is called upon to lecture at physicians' conventions, and he has served as an instructor in various symposiums and hospitals.
Dr. John C. Klippert was nominated by his sister Nancy. In her nomination Nancy wrote, "John has always been skilled in mathematics. Whereas I struggled with Miss Irene Wachtel's algebra and trigonometry, he was one of her star pupils."
John received his Bachelor of Science degree from Case Western Reserve and his Ph. D. from The Ohio State University. He began his teaching career at The Ohio State University while he was working on his doctorate degree. Next he went to Wittenburg College, then to James Madison University where he has remained as a full professor of mathematics. John resides in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
In addition to mathematics, John has a passion for mountain climbing. As a member of the Ohio State Mountaineering Club, he climbed Mount McKinley in 1978. He has climbed almost every mountain in Colorado over 14,000. He twice climbed Mount Rainier and has climbed extensively in Europe.
The Klippert Family was devastated in 1995 when John was diagnosed with acute promyalocytic leukemia. He fought back and returned to teaching after months of intensive treatment at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in Seattle. However, in 1997 he relapsed and a bone marrow transplant was inevitable. His sister Nancy was a perfect match and became his bone marrow donor. After another extensive illness and rigorous cancer treatments, he once again returned to teaching at James Madison University. In March he celebrated his fourth year of remission. Last summer he did some mountain climbing in the state of Washington and plans to once again climb in Switzerland this summer.
John is highly regarded as an outstanding educator as evidenced by his James Madison Distinguished Teacher Award. He has served on committees that directly affect either the education of students or the well being of the faculty. He has served for many years on the Honors Committee, which serves in an advisory role to the director of the honors program of James Madison University. Within the mathematics department his primary service has been (1) chair of the calculus committee where he has guided the department through the maze of calculus reform and (2) as a member and sometimes chair of the personnel advisory committee in the department of mathematics and statistics. This committee oversees peer review and evaluation for all tenure and promotion decisions in the department. John has directed several students in honors thesis work to achieve honor graduate status in mathematics. In some cases the work those students did were a direct outcropping of research John himself had done in his publications. He has authored or co-authored articles in his area of expertise in several publications.
When discussing her brother John's community service, Nancy remarked, "Having spent 37 years in the classroom myself, it is my strong belief that anyone in the teaching profession renders the ultimate community service. In addition to John's professional services, he participates in cancer support groups encouraging others who are suffering the emotional and physical effects of cancer."
Nancy I. Klippert Parker, Class of 1955, was nominated by her brothers, Dr. John Klippert, and Frederick Klippert, M.D. Nancy has had an outstanding career as a secondary school teacher of English for thirty-five years, culminating in her selection by the Maryland Council of Teachers of English in 1995 as Maryland's English Teacher of the Year. In his nomination John, included over thirty pages of material extolling Nancy's abilities not only as a teacher, but also a caring human being who gives freely of her time and abilities to her students as well as her favorite charities.
After graduating from Minerva High School, Nancy received a bachelor's degree from Mount Union College. She taught English in schools in Ohio, Florida and Virginia during the next few years. Nancy earned a master’s degree from Marshall University where she met her husband, Kenneth Parker. They were both hired at South Carroll High School in Sykesville, Maryland. Nancy was an English teacher and Kenneth as a football coach and physical education teacher. They taught there from 1966 until their retirements in 1995.
Nancy said that she always adopted a strong approach to teaching, "probably because the English teacher who influenced me was always this way. In high school, Cornelia Whitacre taught me how to write a term paper and, ultimately, how to teach English by demanding the best from my students."
Nancy is a member of the National and Maryland Councils of Teachers of English, Delta Kappa Gamma International Society of Professional Women Educators, and Marks Twain Circle. She is passionate about the writings of Mark Twain and assigned term papers to her expository writing classes on the subject of “Huckleberry Finn" which meant she graded 90 term papers on the subject each year.
Nancy served her community by volunteering for the Leukemia Society, participating in the Walk for Life as a breast cancer survivor, and through Delta Kappa Gamma helped provide scholarships for women majoring in education. She sponsored South Carroll High School cheerleaders for 21 years; volunteered as secretary for the football team, monetarily helped a deaf student through college; arranged for dental care for a needy high school student and helped a student who was paralyzed in an automobile accident through his rehabilitation.
“Nancy Parker is the kind of professional one wishes could be cloned and turned out to fill every vacancy in a school. She loves to teach and conveys her enthusiasm for both her subject and her students in every lesson. Her wit and humor balance a serious determination to draw the best from her students.
Mrs. Parker’s experience, expertise, service to her school and dedication to the principle that all students can succeed have served as inspiration to teachers throughout our school system for nearly three decades,” said Barry D. Gesinger of Carroll County Schools.
Thomas G. Knight, Class of 1963, was nominated by his sister, Ruth Ann Miller, and Dr. Robert Hines. He graduated from West Texas State University in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology. He was able to finance his education by returning home each summer to work for Gibson and Grable Construction Company of Canton.
After his college graduation Knight was drafted into the US Army. He completed eight weeks of basic training at Fort Knox and was then assigned to a 16-week intensive training program at Fort Hood, studying basic Vietnamese language and interrogation techniques. From there he was assigned to the Central Highlands in Vietnam where he was an interrogator of Vietnamese prisoners of war. He received various medals including the Army Commendation Medal for Service and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. By 1969 he had attained the rank of Specialist E5. He was then honorably discharged from the US Army and returned to Minerva.
In 1970 Knight worked as a Stark County social worker under the Aid to Dependent Children Program. Next he accepted a position with the State of Ohio as a State Liquor Control Agent. There he was responsible for all code enforcement of laws pertaining to the sale of liquor in Ohio with emphasis on the sale of alcohol to minors. From 1972 to 1975 Knight continued in government service at the federal level with the FBI. In 1976 he transferred to the Department of Energy where he worked as a budget analyst in the Comptrollers office until his retirement in December 2001.
After retirement he worked part time as manager of a health and fitness center. Then in 2002 he accepted a part-time position with Dunbar Armored as a courier.
Knight has also had time for community service. He is a member of the Alexandria Old Town Civic Association, the Carpenter Shelter, and participates in food delivery to the city homeless shelter.
Ruth Ann Miller said that Dr. Robert Hines has been a great influence on her brother's life. That Knight has been a wonderful brother and son to his four sisters and his mother Jane Knight Anthony. He is a very giving and generous person as is his wife Colleen. He and Colleen now live in Alexandria, VA.