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Ford City natives inducted into Hall of Fame

Tribune-Review
| Monday, September 25, 2006 4:00 a.m.
FORD CITY -- The Ford City Hall of Fame on Sunday inducted five borough natives into the ranks of its honored citizens. The ceremonies were held at a dinner in the C.U. Club. The inductees are detailed in the following information provided by Hall of Fame officials: DAVID COULTER David Coulter, to paraphrase Will Rogers, "never met a challenge he didn't like." When an eighth-grade guidance counselor commented that the son of truck driver David and housewife Henrietta (Kiene) Coulter of Manorville did not belong and probably would not survive in an honors program at Ford City High School, he set out to prove that prediction wrong. He not only excelled in that class, but went on to achieve straight A's through high school, taking the most difficult science, math, and language courses in the curriculum, being selected twice for County Band, and lettering in baseball and football. He was president of both his junior and senior classes, was elected to the National Honor Society, and was in extracurricular activities that ran the gamut from liberal arts (Masquers and Latin Clubs) to hard science (Slide Rule and Advanced Math Clubs) to service and leadership development (Kiwanis-sponsored Key Club). Even so, when his classmates chose the Class of 1965 valedictorian as their "Most Likely to Succeed," they (and possibly David himself) could not have imagined that his name would become synonymous with major developments and multi-billion dollar mergers of financial institutions for more than 40 years. He had won the Bausche and Lomb Mathematics Award and earned scholarships to both Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the newly-united Carnegie Technical Schools/Mellon Institutes of Science and seemed destined for a career in industrial technology. He did, in fact, earn an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a graduate degree in Industrial Administration at Carnegie-Mellon University. Some economics classes and the experience of helping to organize minority-controlled banks at the Office of Economic Opportunity, however, steered him toward a doctorate in economics. In 1976, he took a position as a financial analyst in the Bank of America Corporation, and as the saying goes, "the rest is history!" David moved moved rapidly up the corporate ladder at BankAmerica, despite media profiles of being nerdy, a tinkerer, not a visionary, and unskilled at marketing and empire building. Within four years, he was an assistant to the president; two years later, he was head of corporate development. He was subsequently head of U.S. corporate banking followed by two years as head of corporate and international banking. He became BankAmerica president and chief executive officer in 1996, controlling the destiny of the fifth-largest corporation in the world, with more than 90,000 employees and assets of more than $260 billion. In his first year as BankAmerica CEO, he focused on increasing profits rather than size and boosted stock value by 57 percent, more than twice the gain posted by its closest rival institution. He negotiated and presided over the 1998 merger between BankAmerica and NationsBank Corporation, the second-largest corporate "marriage" in banking history, with assets of more than $570 billion and more than 180,000 employees. In 2000, David became head of The Beacon Group, a Wall Street equity firm later acquired by Chase Manhattan Corporation and then by JP Morgan Chase & Co. He initially ran its investment bank, then its asset and wealth management businesses, and eventually became its vice chairman for West Coast operations and two private equity firms. In 2005, he was considered for the top position at Morgan Stanley Inc., but instead became managing director and senior advisor of Warburg Pincus global private equity firm. His friends describe him as solid, modest, unwilling to run over people on his way to the top, and passionate about fly fishing. David and his wife Susan (Weeks) live in San Francisco. He serves on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Fine Arts Institute, the Fine Arts Museum, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, PG&E Corp., and Strayer Education Inc. DREW R. FENNELL Drew R. Fennell is so proud of his local roots that he "trumpets" his feelings around the country. His "Hometown Miniatures," a salute to small towns written in celebration of Ford City, is a standard number at the almost 100 River City Brass Band's concerts around the United States since 2002. It was featured on the Band's "Polished Brass" recording that year and in a special homecoming performance in Ford City in 2003. Drew embarked on his musical career early. At age 13, while studying trumpet under Bob Skamai in junior high school, he joined both the Armstrong County Band and the Kittanning Firemen's Band (KFB); he performed concurrently with both groups for more than seven years. He is still a member of the KFB and was its director for two years in the late 1990s. During this same period, he qualified to represent Ford City High School at Pennsylvania Music Educators Association events -- County, District, Region, and State--in both band and chorus every time he was eligible and was one-half of the Pennsylvania contingent in the McDonald's All-American High School Band in 1989. Continuing to develop his talent through college, Drew gained international acclaim for his performances as trumpet soloist on Public Radio International. He was inducted into the Phi Mu Alpha National Honorary Music Fraternity as a freshman and won the Carnegie Mellon Concerto Competition as a junior before graduating summa cum laude with a degree in Music Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in 1994. He played second trumpet for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for one year and was its cornet, trumpet, and vocal soloist on numerous occasions, including dozens of performances of the rousing finale, "God Bless the U.S.A." Drew became a member of the River City Brass Band in 1997; since 1999, he has been its associate conductor. Many of his hundreds of arrangements of ensemble music for the Band, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Mendelsohn Choir of Pittsburgh have been commercially recorded, and some of the commercially-released CDs of these groups, the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic feature him as either an instrumentalist or vocalist. He also produced as well as performed on CDs for organ and trumpet or large brass ensemble. The latter disc was music he created originally for his wedding. In addition, he composed and conducted the challenging, 22-minute long "Concerto" (for solo trumpet and large orchestra) for the retirement of his college mentor, Anthony L. Pasquarelli. Putting his "spare" time to good use over the last few years. Drew and his wife Krista founded the Trinity Concert Series in 2004 to offer free public concerts during the summer at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Freeport. That same year, he composed "The Oval Office," another 22-minute piece that musically examines the Presidency with the words of past presidents compiled and narrated by well-known Pittsburgh radio announcer Lanny Frattare. The following year he took over as conductor of the River City Youth Brass Band. Drew's parents, William H. and Carol (Patton) Neal, and two of his three brothers live in Ford City; another brother lives in Greensburg, and his sister lives in Georgia. Drew and Krista live in Natrona Heights. DENNY HARRIGER For the past 19 years, Denny Harriger has lived the fantasy of generations of Ford City High School's student-athletes -- he plays baseball several days each week and gets paid for it! The winner of the Mike Frick award for athletic achievement at FCHS in 1987, Denny had been selected by the New York Mets in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft even before his graduation from high school that year. He had been a star player on the FCHS baseball team in both his junior and senior years, maintaining a batting average above .400, striking out 275 batters, and compiling a record of 23 wins and 2 losses with a 0.13 ERA (earned run average) in 165 innings pitched, including post-season play. He was the winning pitcher in both the semi-final and final games of the 1987 Pennsylvania High School Baseball Championship games--the only State championship ever won by an FCHS team. His pitching career has taken Denny to all areas of the country. In his first six years as a professional ballplayer, Denny played for Mets' minor league teams in the Appalachian League (Kingsport, Tenn.), New York-Penn League (Pittsfield, Pa.), Florida State League (St. Lucie, Fla.), Southern Atlantic League (Columbia, S.C.), and Eastern League (Binghamton, N.Y.). He earned the ERA title in his last year with the Binghamton Mets before moving on to Triple-A ball with the Las Vegas 51 's, a farm team of the San Diego Padres. Three years later, he moved again to the Mud Hens, Toledo's world-famous farm team of the Detroit Tigers. Called up to the major leagues by the Tigers in 1997, he pitched in four games of the 1998 season before free agency sent him back to the International League Indianapolis Indians, a Cincinnati Reds' farm team. It was in Indianapolis that Denny experienced his most memorable moment in baseball--pitching a no-hitter through 6-1/3 innings; he also led the league in wins for the 1999 season. From 2000 to 2003, Denny displayed his skills in the international "arena." He played for the Lucky Goldstar Twins of the Korean Baseball League and was named to the Korean All-Star Team. Other moves eventually took him to Taiwan and Japan, then finally to Mexico, which is a Triple-A-level training ground for Western Division teams of both the American and National Leagues. In 2003, Denny came back to the East Coast and signed with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic (Independent) League. Traded to the Nashua (N.H.) Pride in 2004, he pitched 185 innings last year and became the team's most successful pitcher with 16 wins; he was also selected to the Atlantic League All-Star Team. This year, Denny is closer to home than ever in his career--he now plays for the Atlantic League's Lancaster Barnstormers, who are in contention for the league championships. He has ranked among the top three in the league all season for won/loss record, ERA, innings pitched, most strikeouts, and fewest walks. Despite his heavy travel schedule, Denny, his wife Laurie, and his children Caleb and Sara maintain residency in Kittanning; his mother, Judy, still lives in Ford City. Another interesting sidenote: Denny was born on July 21, 1969, as Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were preparing to return from the first moon landing. JAMES P. MOORE, JR. James P. Moore, Jr., like many other "displaced" Ford City-ites around the country, comes back to the area often to visit his family; his mother Dorothy still lives in their family home and his brother Terry continues the medical practice established by their father. Unique among those who live and work elsewhere, however, Jim maintains his legal residency here, despite years of paying taxes on his house in Virginia. He has voted in Manor Township in every election since 1974! Jim has been interested in government and business since junior high school. He received the American Legion Award as an outstanding 8th grade student at St. Mary's Roman Catholic School in Ford City and was selected as Senior Prefect in overseeing students at the Kiski School in Saltsburg. While in high school there, he was president of the St. Andrew Society, the largest organization on campus, which sought to address the needs of the poor in the area. He also served as moderator of the Kiski Forum for Political Discussion. As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, Jim was president of the world-famous Rutgers Glee Club and was elected to represent Rutgers College in the student government. He graduated in 1975 with Highest Distinction in Political Science and was inducted into the Skull and Bones Society. Jim earned a master's degree from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of the University of Pittsburgh the following year. He then put his education and training into practice for more than three decades in government at the national-level, in business, and in academia. His earliest jobs in government were as legislative assistant and/or counselor to two congressmen from California followed by two years on the Board of Advisors of the National Air and Space Museum. He next held several positions in the Commerce Department that required Senate confirmation: he headed the U.S. delegation on the Industry Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris for four years, concurrently serving as Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Information and Analysis, and was appointed by President Reagan to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce (Trade Development) for the International Trade Administration. In these capacities, he negotiated the last economic agreement with the Soviet Union, led more than 500 analysts and policy experts in development of trade agreements with China, Japan, Spain, Brazil, and South Korea, and launched the Uruguay Round of trade discussions that led to creation of the World Trade Organization. He served on the boards of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Trading government service for academia and business, Jim became an adjunct lecturer at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and is recognized both nationally and internationally for his knowledge and experience. He received the School's distinguished teaching award for his classes on business ethics, international trade and investment policy, and corporate strategies in 2004 and was inducted into its honor society in 2005. He has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. The University of Colorado Business School named him a Distinguished Fellow in 1991, the same year that he co-founded the Global Forum in Aspen. He also founded the global trade and investment banking firm ATI and continues to serve as its Chief Executive Officer. He has been the featured expert on economic affairs for CNBC and FoxNews for many years, and his numerous professional articles have been translated into dozens of languages. Jim's latest venture is as an author. When his father, respected Ford City physician, Dr. James P. Moore Sr., died unexpectedly in 1997, he sought comfort in the traditional Catholic prayers he had learned as an altar server. The experience led him to search for examples of the impact prayer has had in our nation's history, especially in the public and private prayer of presidents, well-known personalities, and lesser-known "heroes" of American society and culture. For six years, he delved into archives from the Library of Congress to rare book rooms of seminaries and universities across the country and around the world and gathered more than 30 thousand references as he researched the subject. His book. "One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America," was published in 2005 and immediately soared to the top of me best-seller list. Since November, Jim has been on a whirlwind book signing tour. He has also worked with numerous celebrities to narrate the companion audio book and to produce a music CD entitled "The Many Voices of One Nation Under God." A generous portion of the proceeds from sale of these items goes to charity. In the first two months of Jim's countrywide tour, non-profit organizations that help wounded service members and their families, multiple sclerosis research, and various religious groups of different denominations have received thousands of dollars. A major film based on the book is currently being produced for PBS for release in 2007. EDNA TYLINSKI Edna Tylinski spent three-fourths of her life "in school." Except for her college years and five years early in her professional teaching career, all of that time was in Ford City. A 1937 graduate of Ford City Junior/Senior High School, Edna went on to earn a degree in education from the Indiana State Teachers College, now Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her teaching career began in 1941 at Ford City Elementary School, where she taught fifth graders geography and music. From 1942 through 1946, she taught all fifth-, seventh- and eighth-grade subjects to students in Reesedale. She recalls that experience fondly, despite the inconveniences of outdoor "plumbing" and a pot-belly stove that was the only heat in the three-room school. For the next 45 years, her English and reading classes were "rites of passage" for more than 20 thousand of Ford City's young adolescents. When she reluctantly retired in 1991, Edna was one of only three teachers in all of Pennsylvania to have achieved 50 years of service in the public schools. The Pennsylvania State Education Association House of Delegates recognized this accomplishment in a formal resolution in 2004. She also received a White House thank-you for her service to education from President and Laura Bush. Edna truly touched the lives and futures of "her kids," and she has been invited to speak at many class reunions. She also maintains her membership in local, state, and national education associations and has been a speaker at their conventions. Edna and her husband Wallace continue to live in Ford City. They have two children, Donald and Lori.


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