2004 Meritorious Hall of Fame

Horace Cole

Horace Cole graduated from East Stroudsburg High School in 1958, where he Co-Captained the Football team in his senior year. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Health & Physical Education from East Stroudsburg State College (now ESU) in 1963 and a Master's Degree in 1965. He also received his Elementary and Secondary Administrative Certification from Lehigh University.

Horace was an elementary health & phys. ed. teacher, department chairperson, and an assistant high school principal in the East Stroudsburg Area School District from 1963 until 1994. He was an assistant varsity football coach and head cross-country coach. As head track coach, his team won a Centennial Championship in 1980. He has served on the East Stroudsburg Area School District Board of Education since 1995 and is currently the Board President.

A native of East Stroudsburg, Horace has served the East Stroudsburg Little League as a Player-Agent from 1975-78 and as President since 1978. He has been a member of the Exchange Club of the Poconos since 1982, including serving as its President from 1984-86. He served as a trustee and treasurer for the East Stroudsburg Presbyterian Church from 1994-99. He has been a member of BPOE #319 since 1972 and has served as a trustee since 1999. He was on the Monroe County YMCA Board of Directors from 1968-82. Since 1995, he has served on the East Stroudsburg Borough Board of Recreation. He has been serving the Pocono Medical Center as a member of the Ambassador Board since 1998 and on the Family Care Center Board since 2003. He was the President of the Monroe County Retired School Employees Association from 2001-03. Since 1983, he has been serving as the annual chairman of the Exchange Club's C.A. “Phys” Nauman Co-Ed Youth Fishing Contest held at Zacharias Pond.

Edward Flory

A member of the class of 1957, Edward Flory received the DAR Citizenship Award and was the Band Manager for three years, known as “Mr Wiedenmyer's right hand”. He was also a member of the Junior Historical Society for three years and the Chess and Rifle Clubs. After receiving a BS in Horticulture from Penn State in 1961, Ed served as a Lieutenant in the US Army from 1961-63 and the PA National Guard from 1963-66.

Ed helped found the ESYA, served as its first treasurer, and received the Walter Knowles Award. Ed has been a member of the East Stroudsburg Volunteer Fire Department since 1966, serving as its president for 18 years and as the secretary of the Fireman's Relief Fund. He also served as the president of the YMCA Board and coached YMCA softball for 10 years.

Ed was the president of the Penn State Co-Op Extension Board and a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader. He has also served as a Sunday School Superintendent, Deacon, Trustee, and Elder for the East Stroudsburg Presbyterian Church. Ed is a Past Master of the Portland Masonic Lodge #311 and Charter President of the Rotary Club of the Smithfields. He was a member of the Visiting Nurses Board, the East Stroudsburg Zoning Hearing Board, the Pocono Heritage Land Trust, and the East Stroudsburg Sewer Authority. He has helped many charitable organizations, supplying many school activities and graduations through Plants & Design Center, a business he opened in 1965 and operated until 2003.

Benjamin D. Gelber

A member of the class of 1974, Benjamin D. Gelber was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” and was a member of the band for four years. After graduating in 1978 form Penn State with a Bachelor's degree in geography, he received a Master's degree in meteorology from Northern Illinois University in 1980 with a 4.0 GPA. He has been a geography instructor at Ohio State University and other central Ohio schools since 1985.

An on-air meteorologist at NBC 4 (WCMH) in Columbus, Ohio since 1980, Ben was nominated for a regional Emmy Award in 1998 and 2003, received the American Meteorological Society TV Seal of Approval in 1981, the Outstanding Weather Operation from the Associated Press in 2001, and was named Honorable Mention by the Associated Press for Best Regularly Scheduled Weather in 2002.

Ben has been a cooperative weather observer for the National Weather Service since 1996. His publications include: Pocono Weather: A Weather History of Eastern Pennsylvania (Uriel, 1998); Pocono Weather: Eastern Pennsylvania, Northwestern New Jersey, the Poconos (Uriel, 1992); Pennsylvania Weather Book (Rutgers Univ Press, 2002); and many newspaper and magazine articles. An active community volunteer, Ben resides in Hilliard, Ohio.

R. Dale Hughes

R. Dale Hughes was a graduate of East Stroudsburg High School's class of 1941 and graduated from Valley Forge Military College. He was a US Army veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He was the president of Monroe Printing and Hughes Printing.

Dale was a director of the Security Bank & Trust Company and a member of the Mellon Bank Board of Directors. He was also Founder and Director of the Executive Committee of the Pocono Community Bank and received the Golden Deeds Award from the Pocono Mountains Exchange Club.

A past president of the Eastern Monroe Library Foundation Board, the Eastern Monroe Library is now named the Hughes Library in honor of the Hughes family. Dale was also Founder and Director of the R. Dale and Frances M. Hughes Foundation, which provides college scholarships and donations to ESYA, Exchange Club, Pocono Area Transitional Housing, and other organizations. Dale gave generously of his time and money to Pocono Medical Center and the cancer center is named after him and wife Frances. They also endowed a chair in oncology research at Johns Hopkins University. Dale was a great philanthropist from which the Pocono community has greatly benefited.

Troy M. Marvin

Troy M. Marvin graduated in the top five percent of the East Stroudsburg High School class of 1980. He was inducted into the National Honor Society and served as Alto Saxophone Section Leader for the Concert Band. He was a Co-Captain of the Cross Country team. He also participated in track (three years) and marching band (four years). He was a cum laude recipient of a Master's Degree in Business Administration, Human Resources Concentration, from Central Michigan University.

Now residing in Green Belt, Maryland, Troy has served in the US Air Force from 1980 to the present and is currently a Chief Master Sergeant, the highest rank (top one percent) of the enlisted corps of the US Military. He is a two-time squadron-level Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year and a two-time base-level Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Quarter. In 1998, he was named the US Strategic Command's Plans and Programs Directorate Communications and Information Professional of the Year, as he served as Database Administrator for the nation's nuclear target database. Currently, he serves as the Superintendent over communications on all flights of Air Force One, the presidential aircraft. He also manages the Air Force's Central Network Control Station, which encompasses 14 remote SCOPE Command global high frequency stations valued at over $35 million. He was a Master Technical Training Instructor of Computers at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi and served as the public address announcer for the Mississippi State Special Olympics. He was Hawaii's Sports Trivia Champion in both 2000 and 2003. He has completed five marathons, with a best time of 4hours 19minutes. He is married to Debi (Hoover) Marvin.

Irving “Itch” Sommer

Irving “Itch” Sommer is a 1943 graduate of East Stroudsburg High School. He served in the US Army from1943-46, including two years in Germany during WWII. He is a 1950 graduate of East Stroudsburg State College, receiving a Bachelor's degree in Math and Science. He is the president and owner of the I. Sommer Narrow Tape Corporation.

“Itch” was an East Stroudsburg Area School District School Board member for 23 years, and served as Board President. He was the Interim Mayor of the Borough of East Stroudsburg in 1993. He received the James Trent Award, from Burnley Workshop, for which he served nine years as a board member, including Board President. He also served on the Burnley Foundation Board.