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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

In November 1945 Bluffton resident Betty Steinman experienced a brush with history like no other person in Bluffton.

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PHOTO from the Bluffton Public Library Digital archive: https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll28/id/1936

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Name the top Bluffton controversies of all time.

Is dancing at the high school on your list? Probably not. However in 1939 this issue was so divisive that one school board member threatened to resign and the First Mennonite and Ebenezer Mennonite churches actually held the same opinion on the issue – writing a letter to the school board to discourage dancing.

This story is from the Bluffton in two consecutive issues, covered in excellent journalist fashion by Ted Biery, editor.

Several background items are needed prior to reading the account:

• Bluffton High school students held dances previous to 1939, however no dances took place in the high school. These were either in parties in residences or in other venues off school property.

CONTINUES

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By Fred Steiner
Bluffton Icon and Ada Icon founder
www.BlufftonForever.com

Adella Steiner Oyer
Dec. 6, 1900 – Nov. 27, 1964
Bluffton High School class of 1920

Adella Steiner Oyer’s teaching career begin at age 21 in a one-room rural Richland Township school, driving a horse and buggy to school each day. By the end of her career she had attained an impressive 37½ years of teaching, which at the time was the greatest number of teaching years accumulated by any Bluffton teacher.

Of her teaching years, three were in Richland Township rural country schools–one year at Hillville school and two at Phillips school. 

Those teaching duties included:

• arriving prior to school to light the potbelly stove
• cleaning the school room after students left for the day
• a combination of miscellaneous responsibilities including playground duty
• teaching eight grades at once–with up to three dozen students in the room

CONTINUES

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Roscoe Evans
April 21, 1889-Sept. 13, 1968

Bluffton has a long history of persons with outstanding musical talents. But only one, Roscoe Evans, can claim he tamed the king of instruments, the organ. He spent 23 years of his career as caretaker of the world's largest organ.

Born in Delphos, Roscoe Evans' family moved to Bluffton where Roscoe attended Bluffton schools until his high school years. However, the Evans family moved from Bluffton to Van Wert in 1905. Had the family remained here, he would have graduated with the class of 1907. 

Prior to moving to Van Wert, his father, John B. Evans, operated a livery stable in a barn that was originally located on the property that today houses The Curling Iron at 129 N. Main Street. 

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Dorothy “Dottie” Anderson
Jan. 7, 1926 – Dec. 8, 2012
Member BHS class of 1947

Dorothy “Dottie” Anderson took her first airplane ride when she was eight years old, a few years before Amelia Earhart launched an around-the-world flight attempt.

Anderson’s love of flying turned into a career, describing it this way: ‘From the time I saw my first airplane that was all I talked about. I can’t remember the time that I did not want to fly.”

As a member of the Bluffton High School graduating class of 1947 she did more than talk about flying. She learned to fly airplanes before she learned to drive automobiles. And, she built her own airplane, but that comes later in her story.

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8th in a series about famous BHS alumni

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

May 7, 1912 - Jan. 25, 2013
BHS class of 1929

Question: Why is the Bluffton High School mascot a pirate?

Answer: Because of John Hartzler, member of the Bluffton High School class of 1929. While some say it takes a village to make a child, For Bluffton, it took a John Hartzler to make us Pirates.

But, there’s much more to Hartzler’s story than the naming of the BHS school mascot, as that explanation comes later. This lanky 6-foot-5-inch athletic and talented musician, following college, was an extremely popular high school teacher and school administrator, eventually becoming assistant school superintendent of the Akron City Public Schools.

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