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Saturday, September 12, 2009
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Four more BHS grads to enter hall of fame
Editor Four men will be added to the Brainerd High School Distinguished Achievement Hall of Fame as part of the Warriors' homecoming celebration for the first time.
The induction ceremony will be Friday, Oct. 2. In the past, the event has been staged in May as part of Recognition Night for graduating seniors.
This year's program will start at 5 p.m. with a social period followed by the dinner at 5:30 p.m. and then the induction of these BHS graduates:
• Henry C. Mills, class of 1946, for his achievements in the field of business.
• Wayne G. Little, a 1950 graduate, for his work in education.
• Michael O'Leary, a 1969 graduate, who is being recognized for his work in public health.
• Shawn Stengel, a 1977 graduate, who has had a wide-ranging career in entertainment.
The Distinguished Achievement Hall of Fame is sponsored by Brainerd High School, the Brainerd Public School Foundation, Brainerd Rotary Club and the Brainerd Dispatch.
Tickets for the event in the high school cafeteria cost $10 each and may be obtained at the superintendent's office in the Washington Educational Services Building.
Nominations for other Brainerd High graduates for future consideration by the hall of fame selection committee also may be made through the superintendent's office.
In addition to being inducted at Friday's dinner, some of those being honored may meet with high school classes during the day. And they may be part of Saturday's homecoming parade in downtown Brainerd and be introduced at Adamson Field during the football game.
Henry C. Mills II attended Whittier Elementary and Franklin Junior High, where he was Winter Snow King. At Washington High School he was sophomore class president. He went on to graduate from Brainerd Junior College in 1948 and attended the University of Minnesota in 1949 before graduating in business from Hamline University in 1951. Mills served with the 194th Tank Battalion in the National Guard from 1946 to the early 1960s.
He is part of the Mills family, whose business started in 1955 with his father, Stewart C. Mills Sr., and his brother, Stewart C. Mills Jr. Stewart Mills was named to the BHS Hall of Fame in 1999.
Henry Mills is co-president of the Mills Companies and co-president of Mills GM and Ford and the Bodyworks in Baxter, Mills GM and Ford in Willmar, Mills Parts Distribution, Willmar, Mills Supply Company, Crow Wing Oil Co. and Mills Properties Inc., as well as Mills Fleet Farm locations throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Iowa.
Mills and his wife, Nancy, live in Appleton, Wis., and Gull Lake.
Wayne Little's life in higher education began when he graduated from Brainerd Junior College in 1952, earning an associate of arts degree. He obtained his bachelor of arts at Hamline University in 1954 before becoming a member of the Army Security Agency. Later he earned a bachelor of science in 1957 and a master of science in 1962 from the University of Minnesota, where he completed his Ph.D. in marketing in 1972.
Little was marketing instructor, business department chair and administrator in various technical colleges in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He was associate dean and acting dean of the St. Cloud State University College of Business. He also served as director of business graduate studies, student services and internships. Before retiring in 1992 he was director of the College of Business Research and Small Business Development Center.
Retiring to the lakes area, for six years he was president of the Camp Confidence Board and was a member of the Central Lakes College Foundation Board. He has been president of the Brainerd Rotary Club and governor-elect of this Rotary District. He and his wife, Jo, live in the lakes area and have four adult children (Claire, Brian, Wendy and Wesley) and six grandchildren.
Michael O'Leary's interest in international life was kindled when he spent his junior year in high school as an American Field Service exchange student in Swaziland. He spent the next eight years at the University of Minnesota where he gained a bachelor's degree in anthropology and his medical degree followed by a medical residency at the University of Hawaii. He also obtained an MPH in international health in Hawaii where he completed a second residency in preventive medicine and practiced clinical medicine in Hawaii for four years.
Dr. O'Leary joined the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service in 1984 and entered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service, spending most of his time in the state of Washington.
His career in international public health began in 1986 and he spent nearly 20 years working on epidemiology, infectious diseases and international public health surveillance and response in Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Guam. Twelve of those years he was detailed from CDC to the World Health Organization as a medical officer.
In 2005, O'Leary retired from the Public Health Service. In November of 2005 he returned to WHO as a senior manager as WHO representative in Cambodia. He was reassigned this month to Beijing to head WHO's country office in China.
Dr. O'Leary and his wife, Pakawan, have one son, Sean.
Shawn Stengel can trace his career in entertainment to singing in the choir at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, putting on shows in the basement of his home with siblings, relatives and neighborhood friends and taking piano and trumpet lessons. He seemed to be rehearsing for a career in performing arts.
He started his Brainerd schooling at Lowell Elementary. The next year, at the former Edison Elementary, he remembers being the fastest boy. After attending Washington Junior High, he was one of a few students to be selected for both the Symphonic Band and Acappella Choir as a high school sophomore.
In his high school years, Stengel also played trumpet in the marching band and was the winner of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award for his work in the Stage Band. He was named principal trumpet in the Minnesota All-State Orchestra after his junior year. He also sang with the Madrigal Singers, helped name and performed with Windfall, served as tenor section leader and was Acappella Co-Most Valuable Member his senior year. He added drama to his activities as a junior and appeared in leading roles in several productions, eventually being honored as Best Supporting Actor.
During his high school years Shawn also sang with the Minnesota All-State Lutheran Choir, played the organ and sang in the senior choir at Bethlehem Lutheran and appeared in summer musical productions at the community college.
He graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in music education and music composition. He was a member of the marching band. He also played with the Brass Choir and Pleasant Street Brass Quintet and was a member of the elite Wind Ensemble that toured China in 1980, breaking ground as the first amateur performing group to visit the mainland since 1949.
He moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s. It was there that he directed his first professional show, "Red, White and Rose." He was hired for the Los Angeles production of "Pump Boys and Dinettes" and just a few weeks later joined the Chicago production of "Pump Boys" where there were more than a thousand performances in a record-breaking run.
His career took off in Chicago as a conductor and musician with Cathy Rigby's "Peter Pan" and then "And the World Goes 'Round, Crazy for You" and finally "Cats."
For the last 25 years Shawn worked on productions at most of the theaters in Chicago. He continues to live in Chicago where he directs and performs in addition to running three businesses with his partner.
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