Note: This obituary and several other stories were deleted by Webrfaction last week when the Icon was offline. We've since reposted it.
Jack M. Fields, 84, died Dec. 23, 2020, at the Ohio State University-Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. Jack was born Sept. 19, 1936, in Bluffton to the late Robert and Gertrude (Free) Fields. On Aug. 16, 1957, he married Carol Moser Fields who survives.
Jack graduated from Bluffton High School where he was the all-time leading scorer for 44 years with 916 points and will be remembered as an outstanding rebounder.
By Cort Reynolds
BLUFFTON - The host Bluffton boys basketball team lost to hot-shooting Arlington 87-71 Wednesday night in the de facto finals of their annual Christmas break holiday tournament.
The Red Devils drained 13 three-point goals to overcome an early deficit and win going away over the Pirates.
It was Bluffton's second game in as many nights after beating Continental 68-40 Tuesday in what normally would have been the tourney semifinals.
How will you remember 2020? (Or, won’t want to remember 2020)
Let us count the ways:
• Covid-19
• Masks, or un-masked
• School year disruptions
• Cancellation of most community events
• Swimming pool opens!
• School in session 4 days in class, 1 day at home
• Presidential election
• Limited holiday travel
No matter how you will remember 2020, the Icon joins you in the hope that 2021 will be a better year.
Before we change calendars, the Icon offers 12 photographs from Bluffton's 2020, one for each month.
Covid-19 curtailed this year's New Year's Eve group sing of the David Rothen carols. So, we invite you to sing them by yourself and we hope to bring back the group choir singing next year. Here's the story about the oldest tradition in Bluffton.
To best understand our community, it's helpful to appreciate the musical gene of those who carry a Bluffton or Pandora birthmark.
Growing up in a household bursting of Swiss traditions, this truth became obvious early on in the shaping of my own attitude toward events swirling around me.
Our Swiss Connections feature on Bluffton Icon started on Nov. 12, 2020, and have continued each week. Here is the index of the eight columns posted this year and the link to those columns for persons interested.
Johannes Geiger was 44 years old when he brought his wife, Barbara (Walti) and their five children, John, Verena, Barbara, Peter and Anna, from Canton Basel, Switzerland in 1835.
Johannes’ parents, David Gyger and Verna (Steiner), as well as Barbara’s parents, Nicholas Walti and Christina (Badertscher), remained in Switzerland.
Remember Bill Marchal, former owner of the Bluffton Dari Freeze? Always inventing something new, Bill's latest patent pending invention, a quick change battery clamp is now on Kickstarter. Click here to view his product. Here's Bill's story:
How often have you struggled to remove the clamp attached to your car battery?
You know, that clamp first designed for under-the-hood use in vehicles invented 80 car models ago?
Icon sports writer, Cort Reynolds, recently had an article publilshed on the Boston Celtics blog.
The article is about ex-Boston player and coach, K.C.Jones. He won eight titles as a Celtic defensive ace guard, and two more as Boston head coach in the mid-1980s. Jones died Christmas Day at age 88.
2019 saw 406
Life Flights from
Bluffton + 19 ground transports
On Feb 1, 2021, Mercy Health will introduce a consolidated Life Flight Network to handle its air and ground transportation services.
The Bluffton Airport is home to one of the four Mercy Health Life Flight bases involved in the new network. Other bases include a mobile ICU base, plus air bases in Wauseon and Sandusky.
