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First BHS women to become physicians, take two

Posted by Staff on February 18, 2024 - 6:00am

CORRECTION Missing link at story's end has been added.

By Fred Steiner, Icon founder
www.BlufftonForever.com

Dr. Rosella Louise Biederman Boehm, M.D.
Born: March 12, 1897, Died: Nov. 8, 1955
Bluffton High School class of 1914
Bluffton College class of 1919

Declaring Dr. Mary Alice Howe Thomas as the first female Bluffton High School graduate to become a physician proves that nothing is ever certain.

Last week we stated that Dr. Thomas, BHS 1940, holds this title. Soon after this story was posted, we discovered two earlier female physicians who lived in the Bluffton School district. They are: 

Rosella L. Biederman Boehm, (1897-1955), 1914 Bluffton High School graduate, who became a physician in 1925. 

Ida Eby, (1881-1960), who attended the Diller county school, part of the Bluffton system in Richland Township, who became a physician in 1919. We will focus on Ida in a later feature, as we continue to collect details about her medical career.

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Historical Bluffton
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Dr. Mary Alice Howe Thomas, first BHS female grad to become a physician

Posted by Staff on February 11, 2024 - 6:00am

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Dr. Mary Alice Howe Thomas
Born: April 23, 1922
Died: Jan. 1, 2018 
Member of the Bluffton High School class of 1940
Bluffton College class of 1943

The word “versatility” printed under Mary Alice Howe’s senior photo in the 1940 Bluffton High School Buccaneer is no accident.

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Historical Bluffton
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Col. Rene Studler, Bluffton's professional soldier

Posted by Staff on February 4, 2024 - 6:00am

4th in a series of famous Bluffton High School alumni

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Rene R. Studler
Bluffton High School class of 1913
Born: Feb. 10, 1895
Died: Aug. 6, 1980

Call him Bluffton’s professional soldier. Recipient of the Legion of Merit,  the nation’s highest military award for non-combat service, Rene R. Studler served in many capacities in two world wars and became the U.S. Army’s chief of research and development on small arms, holding that post until his retirement.

• Under his direction and direct involvement, the U.S. Navy created the fighter plane ejection seat and canopy removers, 

• Chaired the development of the .30 caliber M1 carbine,

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R.L. Triplett created more jobs than any person in Bluffton's history

Posted by Staff on January 28, 2024 - 7:12am

Third in a series of famous Bluffton High School alumni

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Ray Leon “R.L.” Triplett
Nov. 13, 1883 - Oct. 25, 1977
Bluffton High School class of 1902

Call it small-town ingenuity. Bluffton’s favorite entrepreneurial son became a 20th century household name here.

R.L. Triplett, founded an industry, which became a leader in its field. And, his business model spurred the local economy crediting him with created more jobs than any other person in our village history. For nearly eight decades the Triplett company was Bluffton’s largest single industrial operation and employer.

As a family-owned business from 1904 until 1983, the Triplett Electrical Instrument Co., was affectionally referred to locally as “the meter works.”  Under its later ownership, the company eventually closed.

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Historical Bluffton
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Dr. Helen Barnes: BHS alumnus and International Secretary of the YWCA

Posted by Staff on January 21, 2024 - 6:00am

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

This is the second in a series of features on famous Bluffton High School alumni.

Dr. Helen Barnes, the first woman to receive a Bluffton High School diploma, rose to the top of her profession, eventually becoming international secretary of the Young Woman’s Christian Association (YWCA).

Given the barriers women faced during her lifetime, her accomplishments, views expressed and worldwide friendships she made paint a picture of a very strong, impressive and successful woman.

Dr. Barnes may be Bluffton’s most traveled woman of all time. She crossed the Atlantic by boat 13 times and traveled three times around the world during her Y.W.C.A. years.

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Historical Bluffton
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Ike Geiger: Famous BHS alumnus

Posted by Staff on January 14, 2024 - 6:00am

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

This feature is the first in a series of famous Bluffton High School alumni. The feature will eventually be posted on the Bluffton school website.

Ivan “Ike” J. Geiger
Aug. 10, 1909 – Jan. 12, 1955

  • Bluffton High School class of 1927
  • Bluffton College class of 1932

Through his example as an educator believing that educating the “whole person” involved blending education and athletics, Ivan “Ike” J. Geiger promoted this idea with great success.

Described in the Bluffton News in the 1940s as one of the Bluffton community’s all-time athletic luminaries – excelling in sports at Bluffton High School and Bluffton College – he became the first-ever director of athletics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, holding that post from 1947 to until his untimely death in 1955.

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