Hall of Fame adding doctor, 2 educators
4/19/2006The work of two Oregon educators and an oncology doctor have placed them in the Clay High Alumni and Friends Association Hall of Fame.
Loren Dirr, assistant Clay High School principal, and Robert S. Shultz, former assistant superintendent of business affairs for the Oregon City School District, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony on April 29.
Matthew Arthur Arquette, who graduated from Clay and worked to find ways to alleviate pain in cancer patients, will be inducted posthumously.
Mr. Dirr was born in 1950 and graduated from Holgate High School in Henry County in 1968. He went on to receive a bachelor s degree in education and a master s degree in education and administration from the University of Toledo.
He then moved up the ranks in Oregon from a teacher at Clay to the principal of Eisenhower Junior High School to athletic director at Clay before moving into his current position as assistant principal.
One of the teachers at school nominated me, and so I knew I was nominated but I didn t know if I d get inducted, ever, Mr. Dirr said. It s something I never anticipated. I don t know if I deserve it at least until I retire. Maybe this is sending me a message that I should retire.
For his work, Mr. Dirr has been recognized as an outstanding administrator by the Northwest Ohio Special Education Regional Resource Center.
Outside of the office, Mr. Dirr has coached basketball, baseball, and cross country, initiated the Clay Eagle Cross Country Invitational, and was honored by the Ohio Track and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Mr. Shultz graduated from Clay in 1937 and went on to graduate from UT with bachelor s and master s degrees in education.
He was hired by Josephine Fassett, for whom Fassett Elementary School is named, to teach at Coy Elementary School, and coach football at Clay.
He then climbed the ladder to become principal at Wynn Elementary School and was the first principal at Starr Elementary School in 1957 before becoming the first principal at Eisenhower in 1960.
Before retiring in 1985, Mr. Shultz spent 15 years as the district s assistant superintendent for business affairs.
What could I say? he said when he found out he was going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It doesn t hurt anything and there s nothing really to it, but if it gives them an opportunity to put on a big fund-raiser for the Clay students, I m very much for it.
Mr. Shultz was instrumental in working with the incorporation when Oregon became a city and was appointed as the city s representative to the Lucas County Health Department from 1982 until 2001.
In addition, he was inducted into the East Toledo Neighborhood House Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 1996.
Dr. Arquette is the great-great grandson of pioneer settler Perry Coy, for whom Coy elementary was named.
After attending Coy and Eisenhower schools, he graduated from Clay. He went on to attend Northwestern University in Illinois, and was active in the school by organizing the ministry program, creating a stained-glass window for the chapel, and setting up drama productions.
After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., he worked at the university s Siteman Cancer Center to find ways to alleviate pain in cancer patients.
He also worked for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for cancer patients.
He is the former editor of the Washington Manual of Oncology that is still used by oncologists today.
Dr. Arquette received the Barnes-Jewish Hospitals Caring Spirit award, the Alpha Lambda Upsilon Award, and the Knowleton Excellence Award.
He was born in 1961 and died in 2002.
Association members voted to induct the three individuals who had been nominated by their peers into the hall of fame.
The induction ceremony will be held at the Chippewa Golf Course as part of the association s Chopper Dropper, a scholarship fund-raiser and dance scheduled from 7 p.m. to midnight.
Anyone interested is asked to call the Oregon Board of Education for more information.