Citation: Roderick Sullivan, “Genealogy Art and Helen Telfer ” (essay, Baldwin Wallace University, 2021).
Arthur or “Art” Telfer grew up in Lakewood OH while Helen Rockwood was raised in Akron OH. Both attended Baldwin-Wallace College and both studied the natural sciences. Art ,class of ’31 ,majored in chemistry and Helen ’32 majored in biology. Art and Helen met during their lab classes and a love soon blossomed between the two. Both Art and Helen were extremely active on campus, heavily involved with B-W clubs and organizations. Art being a member of the Pi Phi Pi fraternity where he served as vice president. In addition, Art served as the football and wrestling manager for the B-W Yellowjackets. He was also involved in the Men’s Letterman’s Club, Modern Languages Club, contributing to the student newspaper (The Exponent). Helen, for her part, was a member in the Gamma Sigma sorority, the interdisciplinary science seminar and contributed to the college yearbook (The Grindstone). She was also voted most popular girl in 1931 and occupied a full page in that years Grindstone. In many ways Helen Telfer was a trailblazer for, as she notes later in her life, few women majored in the sciences at this time. Helen later remarked that she was in no short supply of offers of “assistance” when it came to her science projects, one of those offers just happened to come from Art Telfer.
Shortly after Helen’s graduation in 1932, Art and Helen were married in the chapel at B-W. Art would go on to have a distinguished business career in the chemical industry, retiring as Vice President of 3M’s chemical division. At the time of their deaths they resided in Florida, in the town of Apopka. Art died in 1996 at age 86 while Helen died in 2009 just shy of her 99th birthday. At the time of Helens death 7 million was bequeathed to Baldwin-Wallace College which would go towards furthering education in the sciences. In honor of their generous donation B-W renamed the Biology and Neuroscience building as Telfer Hall. It is clear that their time at B-W made a lasting impression on the Telfers and they never forgot the school where they had been both educated and fallen in love. At the time, this was the largest estate gift ever given to B-W and has helped pave the way for many brilliant minds to study the sciences. Clearly, Art and Helen felt that they owed something to B-W, a school that had given them so many opportunities, and that this gift was a way of giving back.
Works Cited
Citation: “Theodore Coaches Varsity Track Team,” Baldwin-Wallace College News Letter 17, no. 3 (1951): p. 4.
Following Eddie Finnigan's resignation to move to Western Reserve University April 1, the B-W athletic board appointed student Ted Theodore of Cleveland as temporary coach to direct the track team in its 1951 spring season.
Theodore, four - letter - winner in track here and captain of the team last year, is finishing up his scholastic work at B-W this quarter.
Citation: Kieth A. Peppers, 2020.
During his time at B-W, Theodore was an exceptional athlete. His abilities grabbed the attention of many even early on as a student at East Tech High, where Jesse Owens and Harrison Dillard attended. Few of his peers could hold a candle to his abilities on the track. The one exception being Dillard, whose time on campus overlapped with Theodore’s. After hanging up the cleats, Theodore taught art at Berea. During the 2002 Olympic games, he was given the opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch.
Citation: Kieth A. Peppers, 2020.
Stanley Tolliver was a student at Baldwin-Wallace starting in 1944 and graduating in 1948. While at Baldwin-Wallace he was involved in track, the debate team, theater and helped found Beta Sigma Tau (merged with Pi Lambda Phi). After Baldwin-Wallace, he studied law and served as legal counsel for a number of organizations and also Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a leader in the desegregation movement of Cleveland Public Schools. In 1977, he was elected to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a member of the NAACP.
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Citation: “Our People are a Community Treasure,” Your School (Berea, OH), December 1992, p. 3.
Dave has worked with the Berea Recreation Department for many years and is now the director of the Learn-to-Swim Program. Dave and his wife, Sharon, headed St. Mary's Church Pre-Cana instruction program for couples planning to be married. He and two of his sons have recently become involved with the Indian Guides. Dave is also active in the Baldwin-Wallace Alumni Lettermen's Association and is an advisor to the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.
Although he is very involved within the community, Dave said, "My family is really my biggest involvement."
Citation: Berea Rotary Club and Sun Newspapers, 2005 Employee Courtesy Awards Banquet (Berea: Sun Newspapers, 2005) p. 2.
Dave is a science teacher and team leader at Roehm Middle School.
"For over 30 years Dave Tressel has played a significant role in the lives of Berea's young people."
"Dave is one of those teachers who through the year was consistently mentioned as one of our "Superstars."
"I have never seen Dave be rude or unkind to anyone, whether it was an adult or a child. He is a man greatly respected and admired by all who know him."
"He has been a fixture at the local pool, thing and helping young people learn how to teach swimming as well. Again, it is his gently confidence that makes everyone feel better when he is there."
"Most importantly, it is Dave's character and quiet manner that mean so much to students and parents alike."
"This recognition would certainly be well deserved. Dave has that "magic touch" with students we hope for in all our teachers."
Citation: Baldwin-Wallace College, Baldwin-Wallace College 2007 Outstanding Educator Awards Dinner (Berea: Baldwin-Wallace College, 2007) p. 7.
David Tressel holds both a bachelor's degree and an MAEd in reading from B-W. After graduating in 1973, he began his teaching career with the Berea Schools. He has continued to teach in his hometown and, today, is a sixth grade teacher at Roehm Middle School.
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But Dave is not only focused on his classroom. He has been active with a number of school activities including Camp Mi-Bro-Be, swimming, school orientation, and as an advisor to the Aquarium Club, Student Council and the Builder's Club. He also has been a Consulting Teacher (mentor) for new teachers in the system.
He is active in B-W's Lettermen's Association, the Berea Kiwanis Club and the Berea High Athletic Boosters. Since 1967, he has worked for the city of Berea as a swimming instructor, lifeguard and manager of the city pool. He also is a member of several education honoraries.
Dave has been honored with the 2005 Employee Courtesy Award from the Sun Newspapers. He also has been recognized among the Outstanding Young Men of America (1983), has been a candidate for Berea's Teacher of the Year and the recipient of a Jill Herrick mini-grant.
A Berea Schools administrator said she particularly admired him for his enthusiasm and creativity, which is just as evident today as when he started teaching more than 30 years ago.
"My most significant experience as an educator is the building of relationships with students, parents, and colleagues. I'm amazed at how much we learn from one another as we work and grow together in the wonderful adventure of education. Nothing is more motivating and gratifying than to be actively engaged in learning with students in the classroom and the swimming pool, and brainstorming and implementing with colleagues strategies to help students succeed."
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Citation: "News by Classes, '75," Pursuit, vol. 17. no. 4, pg. 9, Summer 1986.
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JAMES TRESSEL, Youngstown, is the new head football coach at Youngstown State Univ. He was the quarterback coach for Ohio State's Buckeyes before this recent appointment.
Citation: "Tressel Takes Over Buckeyes Football," Pursuit, vol. 32, no. 3, pg. 8, Spring 2001.
Is there anyone who hasn't heard the news? Jim Tressel '73 was recently named head coach of the Ohio State University Buckeye football team. After two weeks of interviews, Tressel emerged as the choice to lead OSU's beleaguered football program back to a topnotch program.
Tressel, who has spent the last 15 seasons as the coach of the Youngstown State University Penguins, has built an impressive record, leading the I-AA team to nine playoffs and four national championships. The rungs of his coaching ladder included offensive backfield coach for Akron (where he received his master's degree in 1977); quarterback/receivers coach for Miami of Ohio ('79-'80); QB/receivers coach for Syracuse ('81-'82) and a four-year stint as QB/receiver coach at OSU ('83-'86) under Earl Bruce.
But Tressel's initiation into the sport that has become his career, came on the B-W football field, first through watching his dad Lee Tressel '48, coach the Yellow Jackets; then as quarterback for his father from '72-'75.
Tressel's mother Eloise '72, the archivist for the B-W Athletic Archives, told a Plain Dealer reporter that, while Jim has his father's traits, he is, "his own man." Still, those who heard his initial press conference at OSU, must have heard echoes of Lee Tressel's philosophies (particularly espousing excellence in the classroom as well as on the field) in his son's words to the press, OSU administrators and alumni.
"I am so proud, so excited and so humbled to be your football coach at The Ohio State University," Tressel said. "I can assure you that you will be proud of our young people in the classroom, in the community, and especially, in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the football field."
Ever mindful of his roots, he asked, not only his family to be with him at the press conference, but also Jackie Groza (widow of Cleveland Brown Lou Groza) and Sandy Madzy (widow of Tressel's Berea High football coach Tom Madzy), both of whom fueled his love for football.
He did note the absence of one of his own children at the press conference.
"My dad always told us there was only one reason to miss a class... a death in the family... yours," Tressel recalled, "and so my son Zachery is in physics class here at OSU."
Any success that Tressel has at OSU will just build on his already impressive statistics. His 135 career wins are the second most in YSU history. His four national championships are the most for one head coach in Division I-AA history. He has been named Ohio College Coach of the Year five times, and, in 1997, was named American Football Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year for the third time.
Validating those who talk about the Tressel "dynasty" is the fact that Jim and his father are the only father and son combination to win National Coach of the Year honors. They are also the only combination to win national football championships. And, with brother Dick '70, coach at Hamline University in Minnesota, the only football coaching family with at least 100 collegiate wins each.
In the confident, yet humble manner that has typified his actions thus far, Jim Tressel sends this message to his alma mater: "Please share with all the B-W grads - those I observed when idolizing my Dad's teams, and those I attended with - that it is because of their input that I have this opportunity. Thanks too, to my instructors, coaches, fraternity brothers, teammates, Exponent colleagues, and all who contributed to my wonderful experiences and growth at B-W. I'll try hard to make them proud!"
Citation: Baldwin-Wallace College News Letter 9, no. 5 (1943): p. 3.
John C. Turton, ex '42, is a veteran United States pilot with Montgomery's Eighth Army in North Africa. With the British army in the battle of El Alemein, Lieutenant Turton had twenty bombing missions to his credit when he started the fifteen hundred mile trek across the desert with Montgomery. An experienced bomber pilot, John has had thrilling experiences in instrument flying through the desert night which we hope we may learn more about when the boys come home. His letters to parents and friends tell of leaves in Syria and the Holy Land, baths in a quart of water and amusement with his squirrel size, one pound pair of pet Marmoset monkeys.
John, who is another of the boys of whom Baldwin-Wallace is justly proud, enlisted in September, 1941 and was assigned as a bomber pilot overseas in July 1942.
