The Edgewood Senior High School will hold its annual alumni banquet and Hall of Fame induction ceremony in the high school lobby Oct. 15. Social hour is 6 p.m.

Reservations for dinner must be made by Oct. 15 with Anne Simmons, 964-8586. Dinner cost is $15.

Buckeye graduates to be honored that evening are:



Richard C. Schwarz

Class of 1955

The valedictorian of his class, Schwarz lettered in football, basketball and track, played in the band, was a member of National Honor Society and Buckeye Boys State, received the American Legion Award for Edgewood’s Most Outstanding Senior and the Ashtabula Chamber of Commerce’s Junior Citizenship Award.

He earned his bachelor’s in geology from Kent State University and was hired by American Water Works Co. in 1961. He worked for American System subsidiary companies 38 years and was manager of the Northern Division of Illinois-American Water 11 years.

Schwarz’s career accomplishments included writing operating manuals for fire-hydrant inspection and distribution-system valve inspection, chairing the Illinois-American Water Company committee to revise operating procedures for company distribution operations statewide and serving on legislative committees and the board of directors for Joint Utility Locating for Illinois Contractors and the Peoria Branch of Magna Bank.

He was active in numerous community organizations in every city where he lived. He served as board chairman of the Belleville, Ill., Chamber of Commerce and chairman of Junior Achievement of Belleville-Fairview Heights. In Peoria, Ill., he served on the boards of Junior Achievement, Heartland Water Recourses Council, Employers Association, Union Planters Bank and the Government Committee of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. He received the Louis B. Neumiller Founders Award from Junior Achievement of Central Illinois in 1996 for his longstanding service to J.A..

He has been a Rotarian for more than 25 years, served as president of the Belleville, Ill., club, and was named Lion of the Year by the Lions Club in Alton, Ill., for 1976-77.

He retired in 1999 and resides with his wife Myrna in Lynnhurst, a Peoria subdivision. They have two sons and three grandchildren.

He is active in the Rock Mountain Elk Foundation. His hobbies include hunting, fishing, gardening, rock collecting and numerous sports.



Barry A. Walrath

Class of 1959

The first Edgewood graduate to receive an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy, Walrath was a member of the National Honor Society and captain of the football and senior scholarship teams. His activities at Edgewood included multiple lettering in football, baseball and basketball, junior and senior class plays and Lettermen’s Club.

He received his bachelor’s from the Air Force Academy in 1963 and his master’s from San Diego State in 1973. He is also a graduate of the Air War College, the Air Command and Staff College and the U.S. Air Force Imagery Interpretation Course.

His assignments as a member of the Air Force included flying as forward air controller in Vietnam, commanding the Looking Glass Squadron and piloting Air Force Two, on which he flew President Ronald Reagan. He also had a number of assignments in which he worked in conjunction with intelligence agencies, including the CIA. He retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1987.

Walrath has more than 25 years experience in all phases of intelligence production. His areas of specific expertise include political instability/ terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), advanced conventional weapons and delivery systems, exploitation of open-source intelligence, and China’s science, technology, professional manpower and military research and development capabilities.

He was program manager for several projects and consulted with the National Reconnaissance Office on collection management issues.

He has more than 15 years of aviation operations expertise, during which time he accumulated more than 6,500 flying hours in aircraft ranging from general aviation to the Boeing 747.

He is senior analyst/ principal investigator/ division manager for Science Applications International Corp., a position he has held since 1988. During his career there, he has directly managed contracts and conducted analysis in the areas of WMD proliferation, open source intelligence, emergency/ crisis management, knowledge management and mapping, state failure and genocide. Since the summer of 2004, he has directly supervised more than 100 analysts, engineers and scientists who support the following communities: defense intelligence, modeling and simulation, training and simulation and information technology.



Kenneth L. Piper

Class of 1966

Salutatorian of his class, Piper was involved in many activities, including student council president, junior-class president, senior-class president, debate team, senior class play, “It’s Academic” team, variety show emcee and marching, stage, concert bands. He was winner of the American Legion Award and a National Honor Society member.

He enrolled in American University, Washington, D.C., as a political science major. Before his junior year, he decided to tour the world on the World Campus Afloat, an adventure that took him around the globe.

He graduated from college in 1970 and was drafted into the Army that same year. He was assigned duty in Germany. Upon returning to Ohio, Piper was accepted into Case Law School, Cleveland, and received his juris doctorate degree three years later.

Piper started his private law practice in 1977 and has done pro bono work for many of the community’s less fortunate. He has served as Geneva Township trustee and been a Western County Court judge. He is a member of Kiwanis.

His passion is ballroom dancing, an interest he shares with his wife Sandy. They compete at clubs across the country, and Piper is a professional instructor and judge, as well. His other hobbies include being an avid reader of political science material; involvement in local, state and national government; and lending his support and involvement to his political party.

A Geneva resident, Piper has two children and two-step children. He and Sandy share in raising their grandson, Donnie, 6.



David L. Piper

Class of 1967

David Piper received his bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education from Kent State University as he sought to fill a need to provide more male role models in the classroom. He received his master’s in 1973 from Westminster College.

A reading specialist, he was hired by Warren G. Harding High School to operate its reading department. He taught remedial courses for freshmen and sophomores and reading courses for college-bound juniors and seniors.

In 1979 he was hired as reading specialist for the Cuyahoga Heights district, where he was assigned the task of creating a district reading plan.

Piper received his educational specialist degree from Cleveland State University in 1984. He has also done doctorate coursework at Cleveland State University, the University of Dayton, Westminster College, Ohio State University, Whittier College and LaVerne College.

He has several areas of district-level academic responsibilities at Cuyahoga Heights, including gifted education coordinator, director assessment coordinator, academic intervention specialist for all three building levels, director of after-school and Saturday academic programs and the summer academic-immersion program. He teaches at the high-school level and conducts clinics to help high-school students pass graduation tests.

His track experience at Edgewood led him to become a middle-school and varsity track coach. He also was head varsity coach for cross country and spent more than two decades coaching track and field and cross country.

His theatrical achievements at Edgewood led him to become the assistant and head drama director at Warren G. Harding. He attributes this love of theater as a result of his high-school drama teacher, Joyce Anderson.

Piper’s most recent achievement includes commencement speaker for the 2001 Cuyahoga Heights class, the only teacher in the school’s history to be given this honor. He is involved in Boy Scouting, vacation Bible school, athletic and music boosters, student scholarship and memorial endowment funds for student support.

His personal hobbies include large-scale landscaping, classic cars, antique tractor restoration, woodworking, metalworking, track/ field/ cross-country running, high-school sports and gardening.



Dr. Mark A. Piper

Class of 1970

Valedictorian of his class, Dr. Piper participated in wrestling, track, basketball, bands, Science Club, Future Teachers of America and American Field Service. He was senior class president and a Cornell National and Harvard College National scholar.

Dr. Piper is a graduate of Harvard College (cum laude, 1974), Harvard School of Dental Medicine (magna cum laude, 1978) and Vanderbilt Medical School (1980). He is licensed and boarded in both dentistry and medicine. He was the Harvard Gold Medal Award recipient of his dental-school class. While at Vanderbilt, he completed residencies in general surgery and in oral and maxillofacial surgery. In 1984 he was one of 12 charter members of the American Society of TMJ (temporomandibular joint) Surgeons and past chairman of that organization’s Research and Adjudication committees. He is a member of two dozen dental and medical organizations and an inductee into the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons and the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.

He has an extensive research and teaching background and lectured extensively throughout the world to dental and medical audiences.

Dr. Piper maintains a private practice dedicated exclusively to debilitated pain and TMJ patients, including adults with failed surgery and children with joint injuries. He is founder and full-time director of The Piper Education and Research Center, an institution dedicated to the advancement of TMJ education through lectures, hands-on experiences, clinical fellowships and research study groups. He has hosted and taught students from all six continents.

He is credited with the development of microscopic and computer-assisted surgery for reconstructing jaw structures. Doctors from throughout the world have shared in his knowledge, and his excellence for educating his peers earned him the honor of “Top Clinician in Dental Education.” Many patients have stated he is their last hope for relief from their TMJ disease and facial pain.

During his college years, Piper worked on Bert Carlisle’s farms, an experience that molded his appreciation of the environment. Carlisle’s influence prompted Piper to buy and conserve forested land on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. A part-time real-estate developer, Piper owns companies that have put most of his acquisitions into the Land Trust of Tennessee, and property developed for residency has permanent restrictions on hunting and timbering. He has a great love of nature and is as comfortable canoeing the boundary waters of Ontario as he is in a 14-hour operation or presenting a lecture to his peers.

Dr. Piper and his wife Julie reside in St. Petersburg, Fla. They have four children: Andrew, Lindsay, Alexander and Gabriella.



Kathleen I. Straub

Class of 1969

A member of the National Honor Society, Straub was in the choir during ninth grade, in the band during grades 10-12, a member of Future Teachers of America, Girls’ Athletic Association, stage crew and a library aide.

She received her bachelor’s in education from The Ohio State University in 1974 and master’s from Bowling Green State in 2000. She has attended the University of Toledo and done additional graduate work at several other universities.

Straub has taught in Groveport, Columbus, Whitehouse and Hamilton City schools in Ohio. Her expertise is helping students who struggle with math and she spends much of her time tutoring these students over her lunch period and after school. She has a way of relating to students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Straub feels each student learns differently and, as the enabler, she presents subject material in different learning styles so each student has the chance to maximize his or her understanding. If additional help is needed, she provides time for individualized instruction beyond the school day.

She has led church youth groups, taught youth Sunday school classes and volunteered at youth church camps since 1972. To spread her influence and abilities, she became certified as a Lab School leader in the United Methodist Church and still travels throughout the region to teach youth workers how to teach and lead youth ministry.

In her church, Kathleen has sung in the choir, played in the hand-bell choir, led youth choirs and chaired the education committee. She was a member of The Ohio State University Marching Band and has played in the Ohio State University Alumni Band to raise money for scholarships.

She received the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Ward for outstanding service in education in 1977. She is a member of the Phi Delta Kappa honorary, was 1997 Teacher of the Year at East High School, Columbus, and received in National Board Certification in the area of adolescence and young adulthood mathematics in 2004.

Dennis A. Viers

Class of 1972

Viers attended the Ashtabula branch of Kent State University and received his bachelor’s of Music Education degree from Miami University in 1976. He received his master’s equivalency from Cleveland State in 1976.

In his sophomore year at Miami he joined five classmates to form The Shades of Dixie Dixieland Band that performed at Kings Island Amusement Park 1974-76. The band performed for more than six million park visitors, was in the Kentucky Derby Parade and played for many parties, dances and special events.

In 1978 he was offered a full-time teaching position in Rocky River Schools, where he was high-school band and orchestra director for 13 years. His band performed for Ronald Reagan the evening of the Great Debate in Cleveland during his 1980 presidential campaign. The Rocky River High School Marching Band also performed at Edgewood’s marching band festival, when several alumni of Edgewood brought their bands to the home crowd.

He was pit-orchestra conductor and stage director in charge of set and technical development for more than 15 musical productions for Rocky River High School and Rocky River Community Theatre. Working with the director of community education, he created the Rocky River Community Band in the fall of 1979. The group performs throughout the western greater Cleveland suburbs and has members from several communities. He also formed the Rocky River Middle School Jazz Band and began a festival to feature some of the finest middle-school jazz bands.

In 1989 the Viers family turned a fishing hobby into a family business when they purchased Lakeside Bait and Tackle, Lorain. As owners for 13 years, the family was active in the Lorain community and created and hosted a benefit walleye tournament. In 1995 Viers passed the U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Captain test and received a 100-ton Master Mate license. As a result of holding this license, he was able to expand his business to include a charter fishing boat that gave him another 30 to 40 days on lakes Erie and Ontario. He continues to operate Eyepopper Fishing Charters on the lakes.

Dennis and his wife Pamela founded an adult brass quintet, the Brassy Five, in 2007. The members are college classmates from Miami University and a 1989 Edgewood Senior High graduate. They perform for weddings, special occasions, civic functions, schools and retirement and nursing homes around the greater Cleveland area.

Viers retired from his teaching, coaching and community band positions in the Rocky River City Schools at the end of the 2008-09 school year.