2006 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE

Willis “Gebby” Gebhardt was born in Springfield Township in 1896.  At age six he walked a mile to a one-room school when he completed his elementary education.  To continue his education he traveled five miles to high school, which he completed with only a few interruptions.  During those years high schools were only two years, so to attend college Willis needed two more years of education.  He completed this requirement at Northeast Ohio Normal College.  In 1916, Willis was accepted at Heidelberg College and became a member of the famous 1916  football team.  During World War I he enlisted in the Navy.  When the war ended he returned to Heidelberg where he received his degree in 1921.  Mr. Gebhardt taught briefly in Greenville, Ohio, returning to the family farm when his father died.  Eventually he took a job with Goodyear in Akron.  While acquiring his teacher certificate from Ohio State, he met Mr. George Snyder, the Superintendent of Vermilion who asked him to teach in 1926.  In 1927 Willis married Elizabeth Boegel with whom he had two children, son Harold and daughter Mary Ann.  He taught math and coached for the next 20 years, before becoming principal for 15 years.  He retired in 1961.  He was a board member of the Salvation Army and Vermilion Grange, Friends of Ritter Library and the Friends of Harbourtown.   His extensive service to the community included the American Legion, tutoring students, administering Civil Service exams and sharing food from his garden.  Willis was named into the Heidelberg Hall of Fame in 1994.  He became a local legend when he agreed to become the “Fearless Forecaster” by weatherman Dick Goddard at the Woollybear Festival.  Mr. Gebhardt passed away while living at the Ohio Veterans Home in 2000 at the age of 104.  He was preceded in death by his wife of 51 years in 1979 and his daughter Mary Ann in 1994.  Accepting for Willis “Gebby” Gebhardt was his son Harold and his son Steve, who were escorted by VHS Student Council members Morgen Wilson and Melanie Fortner.