G-T Catholic Schools honors 8
Inductees in hall of fame include 4 from Leelanau.
When the eight new members of the Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools Hall of Fame are inducted Saturday, Leelanau County will be well represented.
Earl E. Glaesmer, Stuart D. Hubbell, Mary (Burns) Marois and Thomas D. Plamondon Sr., O.D., all of Leelanau County, along with Francis J. “Hunce” Martineau, Anslem J. Mikowski, Gerald J. Mikowski and Thomas S. Monaghan will be inducted into the GTACS Hall of Fame.
The ceremony, at which each inductee’s ceremonial plaque information will be read by a family member, starts at 10 a.m. in Kohler Auditorium at St. Francis High School in Traverse City.
All the inductees will also be recognized at halftime of St. Francis’ Homecoming football game against Boyne City at Thirlby Field Saturday afternoon. The game begins at 1 p.m.
Earl Glaesmer
Glaesmer, of Elmwood Township, died in 1987. His widow Martha said having the local community recognize her husband for his contributions to the church and school is gratifying.
“Well, we’re pretty proud of him. He spent a lot of time working for the school, the church and our community,” she said. All three of Glaesmer children graduated from St. Francis High School.
Martha Glaesmer said her daughter submitted her father’s name for consideration. Earl Glaesmer, like all of the nominees, is credited with working behind the scenes to keep the Catholic schools in the area going during the 1960s and ‘70s. He served as a member and eventually president of the GTACS Board of Education, and was one of the founders of the St. Francis Athletic Association. He kept the scorebook at basketball games and filmed football games for the Gladiators, which included shipping the undeveloped film by bus to Grand Rapids for processing so the coaches could view the game film the next day.
Glaesmer’s service to the community and church includes serving as a Eucharistic minister for St. Francis Parish and on the church’s finance and building committees. He owned and operated Votruba Leather Goods in Traverse City, and served as a Grand Traverse County commissioner. He was chairman of the county board in 1979-80. He was also a member of the Kiwanas Club and served on the state board of directors for the Michigan Special Olympics.
Mary Marois
Marois, of Bingham Township, said she learned through a phone call that she had been nominated for hall of fame consideration by Barb Lemcool.
“I am just humbled to mentioned in the same sentence as with all the people being honored. When I think of the contributions these people made to our community, our church, I am in awe,” she said.
Marois, whose maiden name was Burns, graduated from St. Francis in 1964. She attended Northwestern Michigan College and Western Michigan University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s degree in public administration. Marois spent her entire 39-year career in social work with the State of Michigan, and retired in February as executive director of the Department of Human Service for Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.
She is known as an advocate for children, and was recognized by her peers with numerous awards throughout her career. In 2004, she received the Humanitarian of the Year award from Child and Family Services of Northwest Michigan.
In addition to her social work, Marois spent time with the United Way, the National Cherry Festival, the Traverse Health Clinic and Coalition, and the Leelanau County Family Coordinating Council.
Thomas Plamondon
Plamondon, of Elmwood Township, graduated from Lake Leelanau St. Mary School in 1938 and the Northern Illinois College of Optometry in 1942. He served in the U.S Army Corps during World War II, providing eye care to people in China, Burma and India.
During his 50 years as an optometrist he donated thousands of eye examinations and glasses to the needy and took care of the visual needs of the patients at the Traverse City State Hospital.
Plamondon was also considered instrumental in raising funds for St. Mary School as well as GTACS. He was selected Benefactor of the Year in 1994 for St. Mary.
Stuart Hubbell
Hubbell is recognized for his years of service to the community, church and school. The father of county Prosecutor Joseph T. Hubbell, he was nominated by his family. Hubbell graduated from Detroit Public Schools, and served with the U.S. Army in occupied Germany after WWII. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1951 and served again during the Korean War. He married Marian Shaughnessy in 1952 and a year later they moved to Traverse City. Hubbell now lives in Leland.
In 1961, Hubbell was elected to the Citizens for Education Freedom and became the first president of the Michigan chapter. The group advocated equal access to services like busing, auxiliary services and college tuition grants for students in non-public schools. Hubbell was instrumental in having both St. Francis and Immaculate Conception schools elect a board and adopt constitutions. Under his guidance the two separate Catholic school systems became one: the Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools.
When opponents of public aid to parochial and private schools enacted a constitutional amendment banning such aid, Hubbell worked with the Traverse City Area Public Schools superintendent and the GTACS board of education to set up a “shared time” plan that allowed GTACS to keep its schools open.
Hubbell said he is happy to be recognized by the community.
“When you look as some of the names up there and think about what they did, it is humbling. I am very honored,” he said.