Ohio Northern University’s Alumni Association presented Distinguished Alumni Awards during a banquet on June 1.
The awards, recognizing outstanding service and loyalty, were presented to George Atkinson, Wesley Clarke, Marjorie (Stedke) Hollinger and Ann Donnelly Hamilton. The banquet was part of Northern’s 2013 Alumni Weekend, held May 31 to June 2.
Atkinson graduated from ONU in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Upon graduation, he began his career in at Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation and then accepted a job with the Hobart Corporation in Troy, Ohio. After a stint with the Barry Blower Company in Fridley, Minn., he joined Hartzell Fan Inc. in Piqua, Ohio. After retiring as president of Hartzell Fan in July 2011, Atkinson became the senior vice president at TriVista Business Group in Troy.
Atkinson serves on the Edison State Community College Foundation Board in Piqua, Ohio, is past president and a member of the Rotary Club, and is a member of the executive board and board of directors for the Piqua Chamber of Commerce. He also has served on the Air Moving and Control Association International Executive Board of Directors and the Troy Chamber of Commerce. Atkinson has received the Paul Harris Fellow Rotary Foundation Award from Rotary International and the Hartzell Quarter Century Club honor.
Atkinson has served ONU as chairman and vice chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Board in the Dicke College of Business Administration, a member of the Student-Employer Networking committee, and a member of the Henry Solomon Lehr Society.
Clarke graduated from ONU in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and political science. After he graduated from ONU, he earned his master’s degree from the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He served 22 years as pastor of several local United Methodist churches, five years as superintendent of the Athens school district and 11 years as executive director of Wesley Glen Retirement Community in Columbus, Ohio.
At ONU, Clarke performed in the choir and served as the Ministerial Association treasurer. He was involved in intramural basketball and was a student pastor of the Greater Hardin County circuit. At ONU, Clarke established a scholarship in nursing, named in honor of his wife. He has served as an ONU Board of Trustee member, and he and his son, Richard, are both Lehr Society members.
Hollinger graduated from Ohio Northern with a Bachelor of Science in education in 1948 and, upon graduation, became a teacher in the Ada Public Schools, teaching music and English. She also taught at Lima Senior High and Elida Elementary School until her retirement.
Since retiring, Hollinger has served at the soup kitchen for more than 20 years and is a board member for Friends of Music, participating in the Lima Symphony Chorus, the Civic Chorus and the Madrigal Singers. A member of the Henry Solomon Lehr Society, Hollinger also is a member of the ONU Women, and she is active in many of her church organizations at Trinity United Methodist Church in Lima, Ohio, where she has sung in the choir for more than 50 years, played the bells for more than 12 years, and served as president of the United Methodist Women three times and vice president numerous times.
At ONU, Hollinger was in the choir and served as president of the Association of Women Students. She also was a member of the Phi Chi sorority. Hollinger has two endowed scholarships at the ONU, one in the arts and sciences and a second in engineering, in honor of her husband, Henry, a longtime member of the ONU Board of Trustees.
Donnelly Hamilton, a member of the Henry Solomon Lehr Society, has been employed at Ohio Northern University since 1999 as assistant director, associate director and director of alumni relations. She was the director of alumni relations at Lake Ridge Academy in the Cleveland area for one year in 2002. In May 2013, she was appointed the executive assistant to the president at Ohio Northern University. From 2006-12, she served as campaign manager for The Campaign for Ohio Northern University’s Tomorrow, which raised more than $110 million. She also serves as adviser to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, the President’s Club and Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership honorary).
In 2010, Donnelly Hamilton was one of 20 individuals under the age of 35 from around the world nominated to attend the Gordon Cook Conversations at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. In 2011, she served on the leadership team for Jump for Opportunity in Orlando, Fla. Jump for Opportunity, a skydiving fundraiser, raised more than $50,000 for Opportunity International, a nonprofit group focused on micro-finance opportunities in third-world countries. She has been a member of Kiwanis since 1999.
