Louis M. Nicastro, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1940, spent more than 30 years in business eduction and has dedicated more than 65 years of his life singing and entertaining for free at various events and functions. During his years at FHS, he served as one of the school's last male cheerleaders.

After his graduation from Farrell High, his plans to attend Westminster College were put on hold as he served for 35 months in the U.S. Army's 113th Calvary Group as a Tech-4 Sergeant. His Reconnaissance group was awarded five Bronze Stars for its engagements in Normandy and throughout France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.

The French Deputy Council awarded individual medals to all remaining members for liberating many French towns during the "Famous Run to Paris" under either General Omar Bradley or General George Patton. The total strength of the 113th was 300 troops, of whom 174 were either wounded or killed.

After his military service, he earned a bachelor's in business administration from Westminster and a master's degree in education in 1950. His more than 30 years of teaching business education subjects included work-study programs at Youngstown's South High School and Chaney High School. In those cooperative office education programs, his students spent their mornings in office-simulated classrooms and their afternoons at their workstations in various Youngstown offices.

He helped former Farrell High Business teacher and faculty adviser of athletics, the late Joe Duich, develop the school's first work-study program and was its guest speaker at its Appreciation Banquet at the end of the year.

All of his singing, starting in 1936 with Farrell's Vincent Greco's Mandolin Orchestra to the annual "Senior Follies" sponsored by the Mercer County Area Agency on Aging, has been on a volunteer basis. He was encouraged to sing from meeting Frank Sinatra at the Nu-Elms Ballroom in Youngstown in 1941.

Sinatra heard his 45 record "Body and Soul" that he had cut at Radio Station WPIC and invited him to be his guest for a week in the Hotel Astor's Rooftop Ballroom in New York when he was singing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. In addition, Sinatra invited him to train under his vocal coach, John Quinlan. But none of it happened because, as Louis points out, "My Uncle Sam said to me and a million other young men and women, 'I Want You.' "

Thomas Nevant, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1942, used his collegiate experience and his U.S. Navy endeavors to eventually return to his alma mater where he made his mark as a longtime teacher and administrator.

After graduating from Farrell High in 1942, he enrolled at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., but in mid-term, he was called to serve in the Navy. He was involved in the first wave at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 at Normandy, for which he was decorated for his participation.

The Jubilee of Liberty Medal was presented by former U.S. Rep. Phil English at the Mercer County Courthouse on Nov. 11, 1998 during the Jubilee of Liberty of Normandy celebration.

After his honorable discharge, he resumed his studies at Westminster, graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1949. After graduation, he attended Carnegie Tech Institute, finishing in 1950. In 1961, he studied in the educational program at Youngstown State University, and earned a master's degree from Westminster in chemistry in 1970.

He began teaching chemistry at Farrell High in 1967 and was appointed assistant principal at Farrell Junior High School in 1974. He was appointed principal at Farrell in 1982, retiring in 1989.

He was a partner of the Nevant Brothers Appliance and Hardware Store and has served the Farrell community in a variety of capacities, including membership in the former Farrell Boosters Club, Farrell Wolves Club, Farrell American Legion, and Farrell Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He has been married to the former Serena Tizio for 58 years, and they have four sons and eight grandchildren.

Dr. Martha I. Bruce, a 1948 graduate of Farrell High School, was inspired by her grandmother to overcome polio that left her partially paralyzed, to believe that anything was attainable, and to give her the strength to explore her African heritage extensively abroad.

The guidance and inspiration by her grandmother served both Dr. Bruce and her sister Shirley well in 1944, when they were stricken with polio which left both of them partially paralyzed. Driven to succeed, she returned to Farrell High School and graduated with honors.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Youngstown College in 1951, regaining her place with her classmates who graduated from college that year. After teaching for 13 years in the Youngstown City Schools, she earned a master's degree in educational administration from Westminster College and a Ph.D. in communication skills from the University of Pittsburgh.

She studied at the University of South Wales as well, where she earned a certificate for teaching English as a second language with represntatives from 26 countries. She dedicated her doctoral dissertation to her grandmother, who believed that there was nothing she couldn't accomplish.

A brief visit to Nigeria in 1974 partially fulfilled her dream of visiting the land of her ancestors, but she wanted to see and learn more about Africa. She left her administrative post with the Youngstown schools to take an appointment with a college of education in eastern Nigeria, a post that she held as principal lecturer from 1975 to 1982. Her insight into African life and education as well as her volunteer work with local children led her to being invited to present professional papers at international conferences, and at several Nigerian universities, and others in Germany, Australia and England.

For her volunteer work with children in Nigeria, she was nominated by people in the community and by the college staff for the United Nations Education, Scientific and cultural Organization literary prize. Upon her return to the States, she became an education specialist at the State Correctional Facility near Mercer from 1982 to 1986. Her unique approach to teaching reading to illiterate prison inmates earned her an invitation to the World Congress on Reading in Hong Kong in 1984. In addition to authoring numerous professional papers, she has published six children's books.

She returnded to the Youngstown schools in 1988, and retired in 1996 as supervisor of media services and the Adopt-A-School Program. Since 1998, she has worked part-time as the liaison for Adopt-A-School, the school-business partnership program. Her passion is gardening and writing stories with the help of a special computer program that enables typing as she dictates. She is no longer able to play the piano or sew, but she finds time to help an autistic child learn to read.

Dr. James G. Kollar, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1954, returned after a heralded athletic career at Marquette University in Wisconsin to become a respected member of the health-care community and a leader in civic activity and volunteerism, always keeping Farrell in the center of his efforts.

After gruaduating from Farrell High, where he was a star baseball player and a key member of Coach Ed McCluskey's second PIAA state baskerball championship team, he attended Marquette University, where he continued his basketball career, serving as team captain in 1959.

In addition to starring on the hardwood at Farrell, he accomplished the rare feat of lettering for four years in baseball, when the was one of two freshmen to play varsity baseball for coaches John Popadak and Bill Canterna.

He graduated from Marquette in 1960 with a bachelor of science degree in education and from Marquette's School of Dentisry, earning a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1965. Shortly afterward, he returned to his native Shenango Valley, where his professional services and his community involvement have been hallmarks for the last 45 years. For his contributions to his alma mater, he was awarded the Farrell Alumni Association's Blue and Gold Award in 2008, and for his athletic prowess at Farrell and Marquette, he was inducted into the Mercer County Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. For his dedication, he was awarded the Farrell Lions Club Service Award.

In addition to serving on the Farrell Alumni Hall of Fame board of directors, he has been a member of the board of directors and past president of the Farrell Lions Club and a member of the Farrell Wolves Club and the former Farrell Booster Club.

He was a member and past president of the former Farrell University Club and has been a member of the Farrell Italian Home, Mercer County Sports Hall of Fame board of directors, athletic board of Kennedy Catholic High School, the board of directors of the Farrell branch of First National Bank of Mercer County and Marquette's "M" club.

Professionally, he is a member of the American and Pennsylvania dental associations, and the Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania dental associations.

He and his wife, Maryann, a 1955 graduate of Farrell High, have four children and seven grandchildren.

Jerry F. Sharell, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1957, has been a prominent executive in the recording industry for more than 40 years, a career that has enabled him to work with hundreds of famous musicians from throughout the world. After graduating from Farrell High, he attended Kent State University and graduated in 1961 with a bachelor of arts degree in radio, TV and speech. He supplemented his income while at Kent by singing in various clubs in Youngstown, Cleveland and Akron. He appeared on TV as "the kid from Farrell" on the Mike Douglas Show and the Bill Gordon Show a number of times - promoting the name of his hometown wherever he performed.

After working at WPIC and WBVP in Beaver Falls, he moved to Cleveland in 1962 as a record promotion man for Mercury records. Through the years, he has held senior positions at Mail Line Records, A&M Records in Los Angeles, Buddah records in New York and Elektra-Asylum Recores in Hollywood. He was instrumental in bringing early success to dozens of recording artists who today remain his friends: Herb Alpert, The Carpenters, Sergio Mendes, Bill Withers, Curtis Mayfield, Sha Na Na, The Eagles, Queen, Carly Simon, Judy Collins, The Cars, Linda Ronstadt, Melissa Mandhester and Bob Crewe. Glenn Frey, one of the founding members of The Eagles, still calls Jerry "the guy from Farrell, Pa."

He spent five years at the advent of home video as as executive vice president of MCA Home Video and moved to radio giant, Westwood One, where he booked more than 300 concert shows for radio and TV broadcast for six years which put him in contact with every big name in the record business.

Today, he is president and chief executive officer of the Society of Singers, a 25 year-old non-profit with a mission of providing emergency financial aid to professional singers in need and vocal scholarships to talented youngsters.

In 2007, he began a radio show in Los Angeles on KGIL 1260 AM and in San Diego on 540 AM called "Jerry Sharell Plays Songs from the Great American Songbook" every Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. where he entertains famous singers and other celebrities as his guests, and where he still talks about his hometown of Farrell.

He and his wife, the former Joanne Messina, a 1957 Farrell High graduate as well, have three children all of whom live in Los Angeles. His mother, Helen Borawski, who is 95, still lives in Farrell.

He and Pam have two daughters, Amy and Molly.

He and his wife Rosemary have two children and two grandchildren.

Ronald E. Clarke, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1961, used his experience from the United States Air Force to fulfill a heralded career with the U.S. Department of Defense.

When he was a junior at Farrell High, Ron was an important piece of the 1960 state championship basketball team. After graduation, he attended Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, before enlsting in the Air Force.

While in the Air Force, he was assigned to the Security Service Intelligence Command and served in the Philippine Islands, South Vietnam, and Japan. He was honorably discharged in 1967 and he returned to school at the University of Maryland, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in business administration.

He began his formal career with the Department of Defense at Fort Meade, Md., in 1969, serving in Operations Europe and traveling throughout the United States. As a senior operations officer, he served as a chidf of staff within the operations organization, responsible for the timely worldwide deployment of personnel and systems.

In the later part of his career, he was assigned to the human resources organization where his broad operations experience was vital in the recruiting and hiring of many young men and women matriculating out of the military, colleges and universities. He was specifically instrumental in hiring linguists, electrical engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians into the various operational elements with the Department of Defense.

In 1983, following in the footsteps of his father (Isaac F. Clarke) and his grandfather (Issac N. Clarke), Ron joined the Prince Hall Masonic family as a Master Mason (Rising Sun Lodge No. 46). Throughout the next 25 years, he held numerous influential Masonic posts and in October 2006, he was presented the Master Mason Lifetime Achievement Award, a significant honor within the Masonic organization.

He is married to the former Juanita Samuels, a member of the Farrell High Class of 1964, and they have two children and five grandchildren.

Dr. Dean Matanin, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1971, used the lessons he learned at Farrell in the classroom and on the basketball court and baseball field to lead him to becoming one of Western Pennsylvania's most well-respected doctors of pharmacy.

After his graduation from Farrell High, he earned a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy in 1977 from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctor of pharmacy in 1981 from Duquesne University. Fifteen years later, as an adjunct to his highly successful career in medicine, he earned a master of healthcare administration from the University of Minnesota in 1996.

As a youth, he dreamed of playing basketball for Coach Ed McCluskey. He played, sparingly, but he had a broader view and saw more than a game. "I learned so much by being a part of the basketball culture at Farrell High," he said as a part of his application. "...I learned hard work, and discipline, and preparation and perseverance. All of these factors contributed to my academic success at FHS and then at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy."

Upon his graduation, he began his career as a staff pharmacist at Uniontown (Pa.) Hospital. To be closer to his future wife, he moved to the Pharmacy Department at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. While at Mercy, he decided to work on the PharmD, and after one year of didactic curriculum, he was off to Rhode Island Hospital to complete his pharmacy residency.

After earning his advanced degree and working at Hamot Medical Center in Erie and Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, the experience he gained served as a solid foundation as he became director of pharmacy at Latrobe Area Hospital, a position that he held for 20 years. He currently is system director of Excela Health, a four-hospital system composed of Westmoreland, Jeannette, Latrobe and the Frick hospitals, a position he has held since 2005.

He has been a part of hundreds of lectures throughout his career on various healthcare related topics, and has been published numerous times in a variety of professional publications.

He and his wife of 30 years, Sue, have three children.

He said in his application narrative: "My successes and failures on the athletic fields and the hardwood prepared me for many of the challenges that I faced at the University of Pittsburgh...I can name a handful of teachers and coaches that played a very instrumental part in my successes: Paul Bohach, Tom Nevant, Mildred Grande, Sam Stanovich, Grassy Cannone, and of course, Eddie McCluskey...they played a vital role in shaping my character and abilities."