Blue Eagle Foundation Names Wall-of-Famers for 2011

The Nazareth Area Blue Eagle Education Foundation has chosen the Class of 2011 for the foundation's Wall of Fame.

This year's honorees -- all graduates of -- are:

• Joseph F. Reichel ’47 (posthumously)
• Dr. Larry R. Sherman ’52
• Dr. Walter L. Miller ’61
• Dr. Robert T. Yavorski ’79

Wall of Fame honors go to Nazareth High graduates “who have achieved something above and beyond,” according to Peg Ferraro, executive director of the non-profit foundation.

The foundation promotes and finances educational programs in the Nazareth Area School District that are not funded by the district budget, Ferraro explained.

The 2011 Wall of Fame ceremony will be held on new dates this year -- Sept. 23 and 24 -- during the district's Homecoming weekend.

“This year we are tying [the ceremony] into the high school Homecoming football game,” Ferraro said, adding that it makes sense to hold the ceremony at a time when many Nazareth graduates will be in town, even if they now make their permanent homes elsewhere.

The three living members of this year's Wall of Fame class will attend an alumni gala on Sept. 24 at the in Nazareth, at which time they will be formally inducted, Ferraro said.

Miller will travel almost 3,000 miles from his home in California to revisit old friends and memories. Ferraro said Miller was shocked when informed of the honor, and said, “I didn't think anyone would remember me.”

The four Wall of Famers-elect at a glance:

• Reichel was a former Northampton County coroner, a well-known funeral director and leader of a popular polka band.
• Sherman, of Scranton, is a retired chemistry professor at the University of Scranton and a lifelong volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America.
• Miller lives in San Francisco, where he conducts research in pediatric endocrinology with the University of California at San Francisco. He has received numerous accolades, including a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Duke University.
• Yavorski is a gastroenterologist/internist at Charlotte Medical Clinic in North Carolina. His medical articles have been widely published.

The Nazareth Area Blue Eagle Education Foundation, formed in 2002, raises money for programs and equipment to be used in the district that cannot be financed in the increasingly strained district budget, Ferraro said.

“As school budgets get tighter we try to provide things outside the curriculum,” she said.

Examples of foundation-funded efforts include science and writing camps held over the summer and the installation of a new gymnasium floor, Ferraro noted.

For more information on the Blue Eagle Foundation and the alumni gala on Sept. 24, visit edfoundation.nazarethasd.org.