PEMBERVILLE — The Eastwood Alumni Association has announced the Eagle Way Hall of Fame Class of 2022.
The Class of 2022 includes Jim Kurfess, Dr. Kreig Spahn and Dr. Ted Bowlus.
Kurfess graduated from Troy-Luckey in 1958 where he excelled in academics and athletics. As a student, he was on the IQ Team, National Honor Society, basketball, football, student council, band, and Trojan yearbook staff. As a senior, Jim was voted “Most Studious.”
He was born and raised on the family farm on Dowling Road with his parents John and Margaret and siblings Nancy, Charles and John.
Following his high school graduation, he was awarded a full tuition scholarship to the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland. He received a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1962; a Master of Science in Nuclear Physics in 1963; and was awarded a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics in 1967. In 1967, Kurfess joined Rice University as a research associate and worked on many of the pioneering gamma-ray observations from high altitude balloons.
He enjoyed piloting small aircraft and maintained a lifelong passion for sports. Jim was a guard on the Case Institute of Technology basketball team throughout his undergraduate years and played basketball into his 50s on the team at the Naval Research Laboratory. He also played league tennis and golf well into his 60s. Kurfess ran in the Marine Corps Marathon each year from 2008-11 until his illness prevented continued participation.
Kurfess was an internationally recognized authority in high-energy astrophysics research with the development of gamma-ray instruments. His scientific career of 40 years was with the Naval Research Laboratory, NASA’s Space Science Division. In this capacity he led the NRL team in making significant contributions to Department of Defense and NASA space missions to understand the high energy radiation environment and the physics of the astrophysical sources of these emissions. In 1978, he was selected to be the principal investigator of the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment, one of the experiments to be placed on NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. At the time, this observatory was the largest scientific spacecraft ever developed by NASA.
The Gamma Ray Observatory was launched on the space shuttle Atlantis on April 7, 1991, and re-defined understanding of the gamma-ray universe. In its nine years of operations, OSSE made important contributions to a variety of topics, including the energy spectrum of nuclear lines in solar flares and the radioactive decay of nuclei in supernova remnants.
As an authority in high-energy astrophysics research, Kurfess was continually searching for new detector materials or measurement techniques that would probe more deeply into the gamma-ray universe. This research resulted in three patents and a publication record of over 180 articles. As a researcher, he was always open to new ideas and a mentor to his scientific and engineering staff. He also served his profession as a long-time member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Physical Society (where he was selected as a Fellow), the International Astronomical Union, and the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers. He served on numerous committees for Department of Defense and civilian agencies, including NASA and the National Academy of Sciences.
Kurfess passed away in October of 2015. He is survived by his wife Mary Deffley; children Victoria and Christopher; stepson John Skaggs; and three grandchildren.
Spahn was an outstanding 1982 Eastwood scholar-athlete graduate.
He was born in Luckey in 1964 to Tony and Janice (Siek) Spahn.
During his years as a student at Eastwood, Spahn was class president his freshman and senior years, was in National Honor Society and Fellowship of Christian Athletics. He graduated valedictorian in his Eastwood class with a 4.0468 GPA.
He had 10 varsity sport letters at Eastwood in football, basketball and baseball. He was All League 2nd Team his junior and senior years in football and baseball; All League honorable mention in basketball and baseball plus received All District honorable mention in basketball. He is named seven times in the overall current Eastwood football stats. Varsity Magazine named him National High School Scholar Athlete Runner-up his senior year in 1981-82). He also was named a National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete in 1981.
Spahn’s education continued at Kenyon College with a Bachelor of Arts with double majors in math and biology in 1986. He was also an outstanding athlete earning 10 varsity sport letters at Kenyon in football, basketball and baseball. He received All Conference honorable mention in football punter (averaged 36.1 yards per punt) and All Conference in baseball with .333 career batting average and held homerun records. His other awards included: College Academic All-American, 1985; Merit List Scholar; All North Coast Athletic Conference, 1984 & 1985; Team Offensive Back MVP, 1985; and Team Baseball Captain, 1986. The National Strength Coaches Association named him an All-American Weightlifter. Kreig could bench press 344 pounds and power lift 1,369 pounds. He was a graduate assistant football coach in 1986.
He graduated with honors in 1990 from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. For over 30 years, Spahn has been a family physician, sharing his skills and expertise for community service.
He married Beth Behun and they have raised their five children, two who were adopted from Tanzania. They have three grandchildren.
During Spahn’s years at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, he was a member of Sigma Phi, a national Osteopathic Honorary Society. His medical career includes chief resident during his last year (1992-93) of residency at Akron General Medical Center; had a 22-year medical practice in Cochranton, Pennsylvania; medical director of Beverly Healthcare (a nursing home) Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1994-2010. Since 2016, he has had a medical practice at Table Rock Family Medicine in Glen Alpine, North Carolina, plus is a school physician for Freedom High School and a member of their Sports Medicine Committee. He was winner of True North Award for patient experience in 2018.
Three times (2004, 2006, 2007), Kreig went on medical mission trips as an aide physician for Nyakahanga Hospital, Karagwe, Tanzania, East Africa.
He is a member of Calvary Lutheran Church (Morganton, North Carolina), in which he has served on church council, 2018-20, was vice president in 2018 and president, 2019-20.
Spahn has also run 33 marathons and 10 50-mile ultramarathons.
A lifelong resident of Wood County, Bowlus graduated from Eastwood High School in 1967. After high school, he received a four-year football scholarship from Western Michigan University, where he majored in pre-med with minors in chemistry and geology.
He then attended Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine from 1972-76 and graduated with honors, followed by a post-graduate residency position in general medicine, emergency medicine and podiatric surgery. After completing his residency Bowlus established a private podiatric practice in Toledo which he later moved to Perrysburg, where he continues to offer foot and ankle care to his patients in both and office and a hospital setting.
While continuing in his private practice, Bowlus was awarded a full tuition scholarship at the Medical College of Ohio (now the University of Toledo College of Medicine) in 1993. He graduated in 1998 with a master’s degree in neuroscience and anatomy. While earning his master’s degree, Ted was the lead researcher/author in Neuroscience Neuroplasticity and co-authored many published peer-reviewed journal articles in that field of medicine. During his time in podiatric practice, Bowlus has published journal articles about various foot deformities and surgical procedures. Also, after receiving his master’s degree, he taught neuroscience to graduate students at the University of Findlay for several years.
He has been a volunteer member of the Midwest Medical Mission team for many for more than a decade. As part of that group of dedicated volunteer doctors, nurses, and other caregivers, he has traveled to various foreign countries to serve people who would otherwise not have access to adequate medical care. For example, while in the Dominican Republic and Haiti he successfully devised, out of necessity, a single stage severe clubfoot correction that can be used in a Third World county in lieu of amputation.
Bowlus was also instrumental in bringing several young people to the United States where, with the help of the Sisters of Mercy at St. Charles Hospital in Oregon, he was able to perform successful surgeries that would have been impossible to perform in their home countries.
Throughout his adult life, in addition to his medical practice, Bowlus has a deep commitment to Wood County, and he has a longstanding history of serving. Those include being a member of the board of Behavioral Connections (now Harbor), as well as a member and past president of both the Wood County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health and the Wood County Board of Health (1992-2012). He was then elected to the Eastwood Board of Education, where he served from 2012-16.
Bowlus was elected as a Wood County commissioner in 2016 and was re-elected to a second term in 2020.
His family includes wife Lois, six children, two stepchildren and four grandchildren.
Since no awards ceremony was held for the 2021 class recipients, which included James Opelt, Michelle Kahlenberg, Bob Frobose Family and Jim Welling, they will be honored as well on Sept. 24 at Eastwood High School.
The evening honorees will be presented with plaques beginning at 6:30 p.m.
