Elizabeth ‘Dede’ Day always helped people
Elizabeth “Dede” Day was all about helping people, whether that was a hungry homeless person or an elderly shut-in.
Her daughter Melinda “Mindy” Day remembers in the 1950s when her family lived near the railroad tracks in Middletown, homeless men would get off the train, and her mother would prepare a plate of food and let them eat in the backyard.
Another time, her mother took cookies to a Middletown woman who was a shut-in. The woman thanked Day and told her she was 84. Day told the woman she was 97.
Day, a Franklin native who lived in Middletown, died Feb. 23 at her daughter’s home in Morrow where she lived the last year. She was 104.
Mindy Day, one of three children born to Paul and Dede Day, said her mother was in “really good health” until recently. She got COVID-19 right before Thanksgiving 2022 and never fully recovered, her daughter said.
Day graduated from Franklin High School before attending Miami-Jacobs College in Dayton, where she studied business administration. Shortly after World War II, she met Paul Day at the Meadows Restaurant and they later married.
James ‘Jim’ DeFazio ‘really enjoyed life’
For a man who survived two tours of duty during Vietnam and worked as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for more than 20 years, James “Jim” DeFazio must have felt safe on his bike in Fort Collins, Colo.
But DeFazio, an avid bicyclist, was killed Feb. 13 when he was hit by a minivan. He suffered brain injuries and died that day. He was 76.
DeFazio was riding a bike he received as a Christmas gift from his wife, Sherry, said his brother Bob DeFazio, 63, of Charleston, S.C.
DeFazio, a Hamilton native, graduated from Hamilton Catholic High School in 1964 when he was 17. He received an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he played lacrosse and graduated in 1968.
He then served as a pilot in the Air Force during the Vietnam conflict. He piloted the C-123 in support of forward operating bases in his first tour, and the KC-135 in his second tour in support of bombing missions.
“What an incredible life he lived,” his brother said. “He really enjoyed life.”
Eugene ‘Gene’ Elleman: ‘I surely must be second’
For a man diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, Eugene “Gene” Elleman remained positive and optimistic throughout his final days.
He once wrote: “If Lou Gehrig was the luckiest man on earth, I surely must be second.”
Gehrig, who played 2,130 consecutive games with the New York Yankees, retired when he was 36 and died one year later. In 1939, he delivered his iconic “Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech at Yankee Stadium.
Elleman, a Hamilton native, died Jan. 24. He was 80.
He grew up on the family farm outside Eaton and showed cattle at the county fair during his youth. He graduated in 1960 from Dixon-Israel High School and in 1965 earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Ohio State University.
He served as vice president of the Butler County Ohio State Alumni Club and taught GED classes.
Elleman loved to travel and maintained an adventurous streak even into retirement, enjoying white water rafting, zip lining and indoor skydiving. He also played tennis and closely followed OSU football and basketball, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Guardians.
Fred Finney was ‘a kind person and very personable’
A Middletown resident was remembered for his years of dedication to public education and his service to several community organizations and events.
Fred Finney, who served 12 years on the Middletown School Board, including as board president, died March 4. He was 95.
Chris Urso, board president for Middletown district, said Finney was “a kind person and very personable” and he “had a positive influence on the community and its schools.”
In 2002, Finney won the highly coveted All American Citizen award presented during Middletown’s All American Weekend, a July 4th festival that benefitted the high school’s athletic program.
Finney was a longtime community volunteer serving in a wide variety of roles from volunteering at Mayfield and McKinley elementary schools to serving on the school board. He kept score for the Middletown High School’s boys basketball games for many years, served as a youth fellowship counselor at his church and volunteered for Special Olympics, the Pigskin/Roundball Spectacular and Junior Achievement.
Diploma ‘brought tears’ to Dewey Foxx’s eyes
Since Dewey Foxx enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps before graduating from Carlisle High School, he always stressed to his two sons the importance of succeeding in school.
“I wasn’t an educated man,” he often told them. “You need to do good in school.”
He frequently told his sons he regretted not receiving his high school diploma.
Eighty years after he entered the military, Foxx, then a Ross resident, was awarded a Ross High School diploma from Superintendent Chad Konkle and school board member Keith Klinefelter.
“That tickled him,” said one of his sons, David Foxx, 71. “Brought tears to his eyes.”
Foxx died Jan. 27 at Westover Retirement Community in Hamilton. He was 98.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 and served four years during World War II.
After the war, Foxx worked at Sorg Paper Co. in Middletown, and at Ford Motor Co. in Sharonville for 27 years as a millwright, retiring in 1986. He was a member of UAW Local No. 863.
Credit: E.L. Hubbard/FILE PHOTO
Credit: E.L. Hubbard/FILE PHOTO
Thomas Fritsch was ‘a great man of faith’
Thomas Fritsch was not only “a great man of faith,” but “a true gentleman,” said Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller.
The Hamilton born-and-raised Hamilton Catholic High School graduate dedicated a significant portion of his life to the betterment of the community, highlighted by receiving the Janet Clemmons Community Service Award from Supports to Encourage Low-income Families (SELF) agency in 2005 and the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2008.
He died in his Tampa, Fla., home on April 17. He was 83.
“He will always be remembered as a man of compassion for his creation and fundraising for the Maureen Fritsch Cancer Fund,” said Moeller, referencing his first wife, Maureen Fritsch, who died from cancer complications in 2002. “He was a Hamilton citizen of the year, and he represented what that award means: Hamilton values and helping his fellow citizens.”
After Maureen’s death, Fritsch established the Maureen L. Fritsch Cancer Assistance Fund in 2003 in her memory to assist cancer patients with medical costs.
Standout athlete Sonny Gordon ‘even a better person’
Sonny Gordon, a 1983 Middletown High School graduate who played football at Ohio State University and in the NFL and Canadian Football League, died April 26 after battling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He was 57.
Gordon wrote on an Ohio State medical web site that being diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurological disease, was “a shock to me, my family and my friends.”
Gordon played varsity basketball and football at MHS and was senior class president and vice president of student council. He was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016 and into the Gold Medal Club of the Pigskin-Roundball Spectacular in 1994.
Mark Kerns, who founded the Spectacular that raised money for college scholarships, said Gordon was introduced at the event by Bill Baughman, a high school science teacher.
“That said a lot about him that he had a teacher, not a coach, do the honors,” Kerns said. “People always said he was a great athlete, but even a better person.”
Frank Long ‘always was like a servant’
Frank Long, of Middletown, the father of 14 children with 45 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, died May 16 at home, surrounded by his family. He was 91.
He attended Holy Trinity Parish School where he met his future wife, Jeanne Stabler, the best friend of his younger sister, Marilyn. They were married for 65 years.
When it was time for him to attend high school, and since there was no Catholic high school in Middletown, Long and a few friends hitch-hiked every day to Hamilton Catholic High School, where he graduated in 1950.
After high school, he served in the U.S. Army during the time of the Korean War. He had a 41-year career at Armco Steel. One of his daughters, Angie Valenti, 52, said her father was raised in the church and he was most comfortable there.
“It was like a second home,” she said. “He always was like a servant. He always gave back to the community and that’s how he raised us.”
The Longs had 14 children in 18 years and all of them graduated from college, Valenti said.
Sen. Scott Nein was ‘one-of-a-kind’
Former Sen. Scott Nein, R-Middletown, was remembered for his honesty and the way he worked with politicians, regardless of their party affiliation.
Nein died Aug. 19 at his residence. He was 72.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a statement, saying Nein was “one-of-a-kind. He was a tremendous advocate for Butler and Preble counties at the Statehouse where he worked with members of both parties to craft and pass legislation.”
Nein is survived by his wife of 48 years, Janis. She said they started dating as teenagers, then ended the relationship for a few years when they attended separate colleges. But they were destined to be married, she said.
“We just always clicked,” she said. “I loved him almost my whole life. I will miss his presence. It’s very hard not to have him around.”
She said her husband, whose political career spanned three decades, was “a very fair man” who always “looked for the better answer for the people.”
Nein began his political career in 1987 when he was elected to the Middletown Board of Education. He served as board president in 1990.
In addition to politics, Nein served on the board of the Middletown Chamber of Commerce, member of the board of the Butler Unit of the American Cancer Society, president of the Middletown Area Independent Insurance Agents Association, president of the Middletown Rotary Club and was a Paul Harris Fellow.
Bob Perry ‘was a guy who was committed to the cause’
Former Butler County Veterans Service Commissioner Bob Perry, who was appointed to the county veterans board in 2006 and served for 10 years, died Jan. 7, 2023. He was 91.
He was named Veteran of the Year in 2019 and grand marshal of the West Chester Twp. VFW Memorial Day parade in 2016.
Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Noah Powers, who oversees the veterans commission, said Perry was a champion for veterans.
“He gave a lot of faithful service, he was a guy who was committed to the cause,” Powers said.
His first tour of duty was a “black operation” between the Philippines and Vietnam, before the war officially broke out in 1956. Next, he spent 15 months on the ground in Vietnam and returned in 1970 or ‘71 when the war was winding down.
A fourth mission sent him on a cruise through the Mediterranean for seven months. In total, he was “out of country” four times over three and a half years.
Flo Randall ‘loved it and lived it’
Florella “Flo” Randall, who founded Light Up Middletown, a drive-through holiday lights display 24 years ago at Smith Park in Middletown, died Dec. 1.
“She loved it and she lived it,” said Bill Becker, a member of the “Grandpa Gang,” a volunteer group that maintains the lights.
Randall died at Arlington Pointe after a lengthy illness. She was 91.
Over the years, Randall was recognized by the Middletown City Council, Butler County Commission and the Ohio State House of Representatives for starting LUM.
Randall also received the Special Volunteer for Special Olympic Award, Distinguished Service Award from Summer Skill Building Program at MHS, All American Weekend Honorary Chairman Award and All American Weekend Hall of Fame Award.
In her professional career, she worked for the Middletown City School District for 29 years, 23 of those as the athletic department secretary. She retired in 1996.
Dr. Ronald Solar was the last of the five original pediatricians at Medical Center
The three Solar children didn’t have to look far when they needed medical attention.
One day Todd Solar, the youngest of three children, wrecked his Big Wheel into a log pile. His father, Dr. Ronald Solar, stitched him up in the house.
No appointment needed.
“It was a great benefit,” the 49-year-old said with a laugh.
Dr. Solar, a Trenton resident and Middletown pediatrician for 39 years, died Feb. 1 at Atrium Medical Center. He was 83.
He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Youngstown in 1957, Ohio University in 1961 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and later achieved the rank of Major, and received his doctor of medicine degree from University of Cincinnati in 1965.
Dr. Solar was a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Butler County Medical Society and Ohio State Medical Association. He retired after 39 years of pediatrics, the last of the five original pediatricians at Children’s Medical Center of Middletown.
Dr. Solar owned season tickets to the the MHS football and basketball games and was a season-ticket holder for the Cincinnati Bengals from their founding in 1968 until Riverfront Stadium closed.
Tom Wagner was ‘an excellent professional’
If Tom Wagner was anything, he was “an excellent professional,” said former Fairfield fire chief Don Bennett.
Wagner, who was one of the city’s first nine full-time firefighters and the city’s deputy fire chief in charge of the emergency medical services, was found dead at his home on Feb. 3. He was 53.
“It’s so hard to condense his career in a few sentences,” said Bennett, who retired in August after nearly four decades as the city’s fire chief. Every aspect of the city’s fire service, he said, was impacted in some way by Wagner.
Thirty years ago, Wagner was hired by the Fairfield Fire Department as a part-time firefighter. Then as the city department began hiring full-time firefighters, he was among the first nine full-time firefighters in 1999.
He worked his way through the ranks, being promoted in 2007 to lieutenant and a decade later in 2017 to Deputy Fire Chief of Emergency Medical Services. Wagner and Deputy Fire Chief Randy McCreadie (who was also promoted to the deputy chief’s position in October 2017) worked with Bennett on the plan to transition from a combination to a career fire department.
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