Retirement

The Boyle County Chapter of the Kentucky Retired Teachers Association will celebrate “Retired Teachers Week” Oct. 15- 21 with a luncheon on Monday, Oct. 22. The theme of the luncheon will be to honor our local community safety leaders. Guests will be Donald Sexton, chief of the Boyle County Fire Department; Woody Ball, chief of the Danville Fire Department; Marty Elliott, sheriff of Boyle County; and Tony Gray, chief of the Danville Police Department. Also present will be four others, one from each department, who will receive a Distinguished Service Award from the BCRTA.

The life of the party planned for the vice-presidential debate Oct. 11 at Centre College will be the nation's largest organization representing retirees. AARP, a nonprofit group with more than 37 million members over age 50, announced Thursday in a joint press conference it will be the prime sponsor of the free Vice-Presidential Debate Festival to be held on the lawn between Old Centre and the Campus Center the day of the debate. The group will bring a bus with interactive exhibits and will moderate a series of “intergenerational conversations” on Medicare and Social Security.

Not much in Rudy Medlock's life is empty. Pottery, framed art and old books line the walls and shelves not just of his own home but of his bed and breakfast, his studio and the adjoining house he moved log by log from Owingsville to Wilmore. But that physical fullness is nothing compared to the spiritual fullness that led to the creation of Medlock's pottery exhibit, “Overflowing Vessels,” that is on display in Asbury University's Kinlaw Library through Sept. 12. Some of the pieces are available to purchase for a $100 donation to a scholarship fund that bears Medlock's name, and the Jessamine County Public Library has also had some of the exhibit on display.

ELTON LEWIS HATLER Elton Lewis Hatler died peacefully on Aug. 7, 2012, surrounded by his family. Born Jan. 20, 1926, in Racine, Elton was preceded in death by his parents, Elmer and Birdie Hatler; three sisters Lillian, Minnie and Alma; and one brother, Bobby. He is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Elizabeth Walden Hatler; four children, Lee Faulkner, Rob (Trish) Hatler, Martin (Sandy) Hatler and Laura (Roger) Phillips; grandchildren Lindsey Faulkner, Kate Burton, Mason Hatler, Jeremy Hatler, Robert Hatler, Sawyier Phillips and Hagan Phillips; and great-granddaughter Clay Faulkner, as well as several nieces and nephews.

Chaplain Kevin L. Dean enlisted in the Navy Reserve in 1989. He served for 14 years as a Religious Program Specialist (E-6) assigned to various Marine Corps units and was mobilized to the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing in support of Operation Desert Storm. In 2003, Dean was commissioned into the US Navy Chaplain Corps and was promoted to lieutenant, junior grade (O-2). In 2005, he accompanied Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 (Seabees) to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dean was mobilized for 14 months in 2009 as the rear echelon chaplain for the II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group in Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he served 6,000 marines and sailors, and their families.

Kay Berggren, president and chief executive officer of the Kentucky Travel Industry Association based in Frankfort, is retiring, effective today. Berggren lives in Danville and has commuted to work in Frankfort the past four years.    Previously, she was executive director of the Danville-Boyle County Convention & Visitors Bureau from 1991 to 2005. She retired in 2005 but after three years was recruited to fill the statewide position in the private sector heading up the Travel Industry Association.

Assistant Superintendent Pat Rosenthal has been a fixture in Clark County Public Schools for the past 25 years. But when her colleagues begin preparing for the upcoming school year later this summer, Rosenthal will be kicked back and enjoying the beginning of her retirement. Rosenthal announced May 18 that she would be retiring effective June 30. The decision, she said, was something she had been thinking about for the last couple of months. “I had been thinking about it and decided about a month ago that the time was right,” Rosenthal said.

A retired Eastern Kentucky University history professor will share his views on Kentucky as a “Crossroads of Humor” at the May 10 Second Thursday Program at the Bluegrass Heritage Museum. Dr. Bill Ellis, a native of Danville and a graduate of Shelbyville High School, will speak. Ellis received his bachelor's degree from Georgetown College in 1962 and his Master of Arts in Education from Georgetown in 1966. Ellis received a master's from Eastern Kentucky University in 1967 and his Ph.D.

The Jessamine County school district's chief operating officer is retiring after spending almost half a century in the system as a student, teacher, principal and administrator. Paul Hamann's retirement was announced Monday when the Jessamine County Board of Education approved a revised job description that made his post an assistant superintendency. The board approved three assistant-superintendent positions in a shuffle to restructure when current deputy superintendent Owens Saylor leaves to take the top post in Daviess County this summer.

The history of Jessamine County public education filled the meeting room at Central Bank on Wednesday, April 18, as dozens of former teachers greeted each other again and reminisced about eight decades of work in the schools. The Jessamine County Retired Teachers Association sponsored the event that aimed to recognize the 58 retired Kentucky teachers 75 or older who live in the county. The 12 senior members present last week represented 290 years in education, with the other retirees present accounting for another 650. The most senior of the honorees was Robin Fain, who turned 100 on April 14 and worked in the Jessamine County school system for 52 years.