DELPHOS — The Class of 2015 for the Delphos St. John’s Hall of Fame has been announced.

Professional Achievement — Dick Scherger, class of 1959

Arts/Athletic Achievement — Joe Bonifas, class of 1971

Service to Mankind — Brother Nick Renner, class of 1961

Service to St. John’s — Mary Beth Will

Scherger,
known as Dick to his friends, graduated from St. John’s in 1959 as
class valedictorian. During his time in high school, he served as
president of the Student Council, earned eight varsity letters: two in
football and three each in basketball and baseball, plus he had the lead
role in the senior class play.

He went on to attend Xavier
University in Cincinnati, where he received his bachelor’s degree in
Psychology in 1963 and his master’s degree in School and Clinical
Psychology in 1966. He adds “At Xavier University, my classmates were
from private schools around the country. I was very concerned that I
might not be as well prepared for college as they were, but I was so
wrong. My St. John’s education allowed me to excel at Xavier. The
teachers at St. John’s trained me to compete successfully in the world
outside our little community. I feel very fortunate to have had the
opportunity to have grown up in Delphos and have my primary education at
Delphos St. John’s.”

Following high school, Scherger married his
high school sweetheart, Bobbi (Patthoff) – they have been married for
over 50 years. The couple has three children: Steve, Jeanna (Stallkamp)
and Jim - plus seven grandchildren.

After Xavier, Scherger began
his career as school psychologist with the Lima City Schools and stayed
for 36 years. He also served as director of the system’s Title I federal
program for disadvantaged students. Early in his career, he served as
the psychologist for the three Lima Catholic elementary schools: St.
Charles, St. Gerard’s and St. Rose, and for the Delphos and Wapakoneta
public schools, in the evenings and on Saturdays. He was on the medical
staff of St. Rita’s Hospital for 25 years and completed diagnostic
psychological evaluations on both the adult and adolescence psychiatric
units. As a further commitment to St Rita’s, he served on the
Development Council at St. Rita’s Medical Center beginning in 1979 and
was chairman of that committee for 10 years. In 2003, he received the
St. Rita’s Mercy Club Award for his Humanitarian service in the
community.

Scherger also served on the Board of Directors of the
University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) for approximately 20 and on the
Lima Convalescent Home Board and the Northwest Community Mental Health
Center Board for several years. Still active in sports, Scherger is an
avid golfer and was the director of the Lima City Men’s Golf
Championship for 30 years and both the Senior and Super Senior
championships on one occasion each. Though he excelled at golf, he also
won a singles tennis championship at the Westside Swim and Racquet Club
in the early 1970s.

Bonifas graduated from St. John’s in 1971 and
from Bowling Green State University, he earned his bachelor’s degree in
Art Education in 1975 and a masters of Arts in 1981. He began his
teaching career in the Lima Shawnee School System in 1975 and continued
to teach art at Shawnee for 35 years.

An interest in jewelry
design early in his college studies enabled Bonifas to utilize and
develop a working vocabulary of precious and semi-precious materials.
This in turn led him to explore the technique of blacksmithing as a
means of creating works of art; as well as, “one of kind” functional
items. Besides incorporating these techniques into his teaching, Bonifas
maintained a working metal studio during his teaching career. He has
continued working full time in the studio.

During his tenure at
Shawnee, Bonifas started and taught (for 20 years) an Advanced Placement
Art History Class where high school students were able to earn college
credit by taking a national exam. He initiated and setup an annual
Shawnee High School Art Exhibition, which has been a popular favorite
for the past 25 years.

Bonifas contributions to education and the
arts have been recognized on a variety of different levels. In 1982-83,
he was chosen by the Shawnee’s superintendent as a “Martha Holden
Jennings Scholar” for his excellence in teaching, sponsored by Bowling
Green State University. The Shawnee faculty and staff selected Bonifas
for the “Make Shawnee The Best It Can Be” Award in 2000-01. Members of
the Ohio Art Education Association selected Bonifas as the “Outstanding
Art Instructor of Northwest Ohio” in 2006. In 2013, he received a
lifetime achievement award from The Arts Advocacy Collaborative of West
Central Ohio for his creations of art locally and nationally.

For
the past 40 years, Bonifas has been demonstrating his craft of
blacksmithing throughout the United States at local and international
blacksmithing conferences. The exposure at such conferences has given
him the opportunity to create a market for his art, as far away as
Harimacho, Japan. An article in the New York Times about his work led to
a request to design and create two portals for the Knight Library at
the University of Oregon, in Eugene, Oregon. Locally, you can see some
of his creations at ArtSpace Lima, Bluffton University, Bowling Green
State University, Faurot Park, Spencerville Schools, Elida High School
and The Wassenberg Art Center in Van Wert.

Bonifas discovered
early on his interest in art was a talent he could use to embellish
spirit posters, reports, bulletin boards and science projects. Joe
stated: “The one constant I could depend on at St. John’s was a high
grade on anything related to art. In fact I often spent more time on my
report covers than the actual reports”. He also mentioned that he; “….
believed St. John’s provided him the opportunity to flourish personally
because of the encouragement from his teachers and fellow classmates,
who were just GOOD friends.”

Brother Renner was born and raised in
the peaceful quiet of a farm near Landeck. His parents, Mary and Virgil
Renner, were good, hard-working people of faith who raised him and his
siblings, Donald, Dorothy, Catherine, Norbert, Jerry and Carl, to be the
same.

His first inkling of a religious life was in third or
fourth grade when Brother Hotz of the Brothers of the Holy Cross visited
his class at Landeck. Later Sr. Bernadette asked him in junior high if
he had thought again about his interest in being a Brother. He also
spent a week at St. Meinrad’s Seminary but he found that was not the
place he fit in. While the interest was still there, most of his time
was spent just being a kid. He played basketball for Bob Arnzen and
worked for Fischer Plumbing and Heating after graduating from St. John’s
in 1961. But he still wanted something more and decided to scratch that
itch of religious life that he had long felt. He just wanted to give it
a try and see if it worked for him.

In the fall of 1962 he left
for the seminary of the Society of the Missionaries of the Precious
Blood in his 1956 Chevy. He found his niche and in 2015 celebrated more
than 50 years as a member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood,
living at St. Charles in Carthagena.

One of his duties at St.
Charles in Mercer County was to farm the seminary’s 1,100 acres. It was
while farming that he came to realize that the earth was God’s gift to
mankind and that we were not taking adequate care of this valuable gift.
This interest in protecting God’s gift for others and future
generations led to a lifetime of research in soil and water
conservation. Over 40 years of research, much of it hands-on, he’s
accumulated a wealth of knowledge on the topic and has shared that
knowledge in Ohio, across the United States and across the world.

Brother
Renner is the Chairman of the Mercer Soil and Water Conservation
District Board of Supervisors and a consultant with The Ohio State
University. He’s also working in Tanzania, Haiti, Jamaica and Guatemala
helping to feed the people as well as teaching them to use the resources
they have to improve their lives. His research and advocacy in soil and
water conservation has led to him receiving numerous awards among which
is the 2013 Archbishop O’Hara Advocacy Award for Rural Ministry from
the National Catholic Rural Life Conference for his dedication and
passion toward rural conservation. He believes we should learn how the
earth works first, and then we’ll learn to work with the earth, instead
of knowing nothing or very little about the earth, and then trying to do
it our way.” Brother Renner continues his work in conservation still
today.

When asked what advice he would give to others seeking a course for their life, he replied, “Happiness is living for others.”

Will
said, “My family on both sides, the Wills and the Reddingtons, shaped
my growing up. On both sides of the family there was one person who went
to daily Mass. My Mom went every day, even when we were kids and we
went every day at school at St. John’s. My brother Dan and I often went
during the summer when we were in grade school. Church was just a part
of my life.”

The teachers in grade school who had the most
influence on me were Sister Viventia and Sister Helen. They gave me a
desire to teach and to give to others.

In college at Mary Manse,
she studied music, theology and did some work in liturgy. I became very
interested in how liturgy developed through the centuries and did
research on parts of the Missal of the time. It really inspired me to
read as much as I could about it and to connect it with the music that I
was also studying at the time.

When she came to St. John’s, she
taught music two years and the sixth grade one year. I then went to
Ottoville where I taught nine years. It was at the time that I became
part of the liturgy committee here at St. John’s. Fr. Henning had been
working with the liturgy at St. John’s under Fr. Sidner who was part of
the Diocesan Liturgy Committee. When Fr. Henning was about to leave, he
had Fr. Sidner hire in a liturgist who also did music. I applied and was
hired. She began in 1985 and in the first month, realized it was a
six-day-a-week ministry.

“I was soon responsible for every part of
it; music, wedding music, funerals, choir, ordering items for worship
such as hosts, wine, candles, etc. In the beginning Ann Byrne
accompanied many of the services but as time moved on I had more music
responsibilities and many more helpers too numerous to mention,” she
said.

Today, there are many more ministry positions open to lay
people. Students from the parish are studying to be catechists,
teachers, choir directors and social workers. Many students assume
liturgical ministries when they go to college and or continue them other
places and even here in the parish. Some come back and resume their
ministries in the summer or years later.

“The number of students
involved in the ministries here at St. John’s and those who have gone on
to take positions in their colleges has been a tangible reward for me,”
Will said. “Those continuing to bring their gifts, time and talents to
the Body of Christ are really carrying on the faith of the St. John’s
community.

“As for my ministry, I have been to every Christmas and
Easter Mass in the 30 years I have been here. I have played at least
1,400 funerals and maybe 400 weddings. I have not kept track of Masses. I
have celebrated many special events with the 150th Parish Anniversary
celebrations and the Re-Dedication of the Church in 1998 plus many
graduations and anniversaries. It is always with praise and
thanksgiving.”

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held
Sunday, Nov. 29 in the All Saints Building at St. John’s. The day begins
with 11:30 a.m. Mass at St. John’s Catholic Church. A free brunch in
the All Saints begins at 1 p.m. followed immediately by the induction
ceremony.

All are welcome to attend but reservations are required
to plan for the brunch. To make reservations, contact Bob Ebbeskotte at
rebbeskotte@woh.rr.com or 419-692-0752 or mail your reservations
including name, number attending and contact info to Hall of Fame, PO
Box 112, Delphos OH 45833.

The deadline for reservations is Friday.