Three amazing women

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The 2015 inductees into the Highland County Women’s Hall of Fame have been announced and were each recognized by the Highland County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday.

Those who will be inducted at the annual August banquet are Lisa Barnhouse, Cathy Griffith, and Sue Frizzell Zint. All three women were present at Wednesday’s meeting.

“We congratulate you,” commissioner Shane Wilkin said, adding that the board of commissioners “appreciate the asset you are to Highland County.”

“We applaud you,” commissioner Tom Horst said.

According to hall of fame committee chair Sue Smith, there were 26 nominations from which the inductees were chosen.

Smith said all the women nominated “do absolutely fantastic things in Highland County.”

“They all care about Highland County. They all care about the community, and they all care about people,” she said.

The banquet will be held on Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. in the atrium at Southern State Community College in Hillsboro.

Tickets are $16 and are available at The Times-Gazette, Southern Hills Community Bank in Leesburg, Home Savings and Loan in Lynchburg, Community Savings Bank in Greenfield, and from committee members.

Smith can be contacted at 937-661-6148, or by email at [email protected] for more information.

Each year since 1981, two to four women have been honored with induction into the hall of fame for their contributions to the community.

Dr. Lisa Barnhouse, Hillsboro, is the director of Hopewell Center State Support Team for region 14, located in New Market.

While Barnhouse is a Wellston native, she has lived in Highland County for more than four decades. She’s a graduate of Ohio University, and received her doctorate in school psychology from the University of Cincinnati.

On Wednesday, Barnhouse said that to be recognized was “very humbling.”

“A lot of wonderful things have come to our family for living here,” Barnhouse said.

In a letter of support in Barnhouse’s nomination packet, the nominee’s achievements are outlined as her leadership in developing policies and procedures ensuring that kids with disabilities were included with regular education students, pioneering programs for preschool children with disabilities that served as a model for the state of Ohio, her significant contributions to the development of the Regional Family and Children First Initiative for a five-county area, and her tireless advocacy for meeting the needs of children with disabilities and ensuring their parents have a meaningful role in the development of an educational plan allowing their child to reach their full potential.

“Dr. Barnhouse has championed all students, particularly special needs students, her entire career,” wrote nominator Pamela Nickell.

Cathy Griffith is the director of the Southern Ohio Pregnancy Center (SOPC).

On Wednesday, the Lynchburg native talked about raising awareness of SOPC “so we can help as many moms and babies as we can.”

Nominator Karen Faust said of Griffith that “(she) might be small in stature, but her contributions in the area of caring for the unborn and their parents are immeasurable.”

After high school, Griffith spent a number of years in Kentucky where she received her education at Kentucky Christian University in Bible and Christian Education.

Griffith joined the SOPC Board of Directors in 1993, and in 2007 became executive director of SOPC.

In 1999, while Griffith was board president, SOPC purchased a permanent site, and the building has since become “a home and safe haven for young women and men experiencing unexpected pregnancies,” Faust wrote.

Faust stated that Griffith “has developed hundreds of educational programs and traveled thousands of miles presenting these programs.

Described as “a tireless leader,” Faust wrote that in Griffith’s position, she has “positively affected thousands of young men and women in Highland County” and the surrounding area.

Sue Frizzell Zint, of Greenfield, was the first female principal at Greenfield Elementary as well as the first female superintendent for the Greenfield Exempted Village School District.

“I’m humbled by all this,” Zint on Wednesday.

“Sue is a powerful role model for modern women and a trailblazer who has demonstrated excellence,” wrote Ann Pence in Zint’s nomination packet.

A 1964 McClain graduate, Zint went onto college in New York, and then to Bowling Green State University where she received her degree in elementary education.

She began teaching in Columbus, and in 1973 returned to Greenfield where she started teaching three years later. In 1985 she received her master’s degree in educational administration from The Ohio State University. In 1987, Zint became principal of Greenfield Elementary. She was superintendent of Greenfield schools for three year, retiring in 2005.

Zint’s efforts to preserve history include the restoration of both the DT&I railroad depot and the Smith Tannery, as well as the placement of the Travelers Rest and the Smith Tannery on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1988, Zint began a Secret Santa program as a way to help needy students. Pence wrote that since then, “Sue’s Secret Santa program has continued to expand.”

“Highland County is a better place today,” Pence wrote, “because of Sue Frizzell Zint and her life-long passion for education, students, and her community.”

A future edition of The Times-Gazette will offer complete profiles of each of the inductees.

Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.

Pictured at Wednesday’s meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners are, from left, 2015 Women’s Hall of Fame inductee Cathy Griffith, commissioner Jeff Duncan, hall of fame committee chair and past inductee Sue Smith, commissioner Shane Wilkin, hall of fame committee member and past inductee Marilyn Mitchell, 2015 inductee Lisa Barnhouse, 2015 inductee Sue Frizzell Zint and commissioner Tom Horst.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2015/07/web1_WithCommittee.jpgPictured at Wednesday’s meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners are, from left, 2015 Women’s Hall of Fame inductee Cathy Griffith, commissioner Jeff Duncan, hall of fame committee chair and past inductee Sue Smith, commissioner Shane Wilkin, hall of fame committee member and past inductee Marilyn Mitchell, 2015 inductee Lisa Barnhouse, 2015 inductee Sue Frizzell Zint and commissioner Tom Horst.
HOF inductees honored for contributions to community

By Angela Shepherd

[email protected]

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