OttawaHerald.com -- Community News. Community Connections.

	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

Subscriber Services Home Delivery Gift Subscription Stop-Start Delivery Missing Paper Back Issues Newsstand Locations Shopper Locations

Advertising Services Manage Your Account Place a Classified Ad Place a Display Ad Advertise Online Business Finder Directory

Other Services Submit News Laminated Items Photos & Keepsakes Article Archives Contact Us History of the Herald Our Policies

Suggest a poll topic

2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 12:12 PM

Wall of Honor spotlights Ottawans’ success

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

Susan Geiss says this year’s Wall of Honor inductees at Ottawa High School are a little different.

For one thing, all three of the inductees — a former sheriff, a radio personality and a butterfly expert — lived in Ottawa after graduating, Geiss, who is coordinator of the event, said.

Rex Bowling, Bradley Howard and William Howe will join a list of 39 OHS graduates Thursday evening at the annual Wall of Honor banquet.

“We are definitely looking forward to the program this year,” Geiss said.

The inductees will be honored at 6 p.m. Thursday at the banquet in the Cyclone Room of OHS, 1120 S. Ash St. Geiss said about 100 people have purchased tickets to the event. No tickets will be sold at the door, and the deadline to purchase tickets has passed.

A public program will follow the banquet at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are not required to attend the program.

Formal induction to the Wall of Honor will follow during halftime of the OHS football game Friday night.

This year’s inductees and backgrounds include:

Rex Bowling

Bowling was a 1965 OHS graduate who served in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam. He then began serving his hometown as an officer in the Ottawa Police Department before eventually becoming the Franklin County sheriff. He served in that post for more than 27 years.

Throughout his career, Bowling was given numerous awards, including “Outstanding Young Public Protector” by the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bowling died in 2004.

Bradley Howard

Howard is a 1979 graduate of OHS who attended Pittsburg State University before becoming a broadcaster and purchasing KOFO, an AM radio station in Ottawa.

Howard and KOFO have received numerous awards from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.

He and his wife, Sandy, live in Ottawa. They have two daughters, Kylene and Allison.

William (Bill) Howe

Howe was a 1947 graduate of OHS who was an internationally recognized butterfly expert. Before his death this past August, Howe had traveled to Mexico 83 times, where he collected thousands of butterfly and moth specimens to use in illustrations and paintings.

Howe painted a large mural for the multi-purpose room of Ottawa Junior High School (now Washburn Towers) in 1978. He was named Kansas Artist of the Year in 1987.