Inductees announced for Women's Hall of Fame

Inductees named for

Women’s Hall of Fame

Class of 2010 includes: Thelma L. Coffey,

Rose Fisher Merkowitz, Virginia Milner Purdy

and Louise Fenner Sprinkle

For 30 years, the women who have helped lead, serve and better the Highland County community have been honored for their dedication and for

their service. In a ceremony scheduled for Aug. 31, four more women will be added to the 87 inductees of the Highland County Women’s Hall of Fame. 

   Representing areas of community service, education, business and community service, Thelma L. Coffey, Rose Fisher Merkowitz, Virginia Milner Purdy and Louise Fenner Sprinkle will be inducted into the hall of fame. 

   • Thelma L. Coffey, an educator and leader in community service, “Has distinguished herself by a lifetime of service to others,” according to her

nomination letter. Devotion to family, a 30-year career in education, and an active community volunteer, describes her very busy and fulfilling life.

   A lifelong resident of the Greenfield area, Coffey graduated from McClain High School in 1937. She earned a Cadet Certificate in 1957 and

became a third grade teacher for the Greenfield Schools, then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in 1963 and a master’s degree

from the University of Cincinnati in 1970, all the while juggling a home, family and career. Again, in the words of her nominator, “Mrs. Coffey loved

being a teacher.” 

   “She often stayed late and frequently spent her own money to purchase materials for classroom projects.”

   Following retirement from the classroom in 1987, Mrs. Coffey has taken an active role in serving her community through volunteerism. Greenfield

Mothers Club, Order of the Eastern Star, Garden Club, Greenfield Area Life Squad, Greenfield Area Christian Center, Greenfield First United Methodist

Church, Delta Kappa Gamma Society International and Greenfield Area Medical Center Volunteers are among the many community organizations that have benefited from her service. 

   • Rose Fisher Merkowitz, a Family and Consumer Sciences Educator a nd County Extension Director for The Ohio State University in Highland County, has held that post for the past 23 years. She also oversees all the 4-H Family and Consumer Science projects in the county, advises the 4-H Family and Consumer Sciences Board, the Highland County Junior Fairboard, and assists with the 4-H Camping program, and works to further community

development. She is very community-minded and works with several local organizations including the Highland County Commissioners, Highland County

Job and Family Services, Highland County Children Services and the Highland County Community Action Organization. She has provided leadership to several county needs assessments which assist community leaders in gathering data for community improvements and for grants.

   Community leadership is one of Merkowitz’s specialties, having become a certified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Emotional Intelligence and Asset

Building trainer. 

She is known throughout the state of Ohio and has taught nationally and internationally for her Myers-Briggs and Emotional Intelligence trainings along with her boardsmanship and other leadership trainings. She works closely with The Ohio State University Human Resources by providing educational training for their Leading Edge (Middle Management Program). In addition to leadership training, Dining with Diabetes, Family Fun Night (a six-week parenting course), budgeting classes for low income families, food safety, estate planning, are a few of the teaching and training initiatives conducted by Rose.  

   In the words of her nominator: “Rose exemplifies professionalism in her teaching, her work ethic, her continued quest for new knowledge and the

enthusiasm she brings to all her presentations. She engages each learner to become more than what they were and to utilize the information to enhance

their lives in a positive manner.”

   • Virginia Milner Purdy, a businesswomen, was born in Leesburg to a teacher mother and legislator father, so public service and leadership come

naturally to her. Following graduation from Ohio State University, she taught home economics at Jones Junior High in Upper Arlington, was co-owner

of a general store in Georgetown, and then in 1981 she became president and general manager of WRAC radio in West Union. Selling the station in 1997,

Purdy returned home to Leesburg to assist her aging father.  

   Purdy has managed a nursing home, been an adjunct professor at Wilmington College, served as executive director for Leadership Highland and

co-executive director of Clinton County Leadership Institute, and worked as a financial adviser. Her community service activities include: four years on

the Ohio State Board of Education; BEST (a statewide business and education organization), serving as member of the Board of Directors; Adams County

Extension Advisory Board; Private Industry Council; Shawnee Mental Health Board; Seal of Ohio Girl Scout Council Board of Directors and Honorary Board

Member; United Way of Brown County, Campaign Chairman; West Union Federated Women’s Club; West Union Lion’s Club; Research Club of Georgetown; American Association of University Women; Highland County Chamber of Commerce; Hillsboro and Greenfield Rotary; and Samaritan Outreach Services. Among her many honors and awards: Adams County 4-H program-Friend of 4-H Award, 1982 and 1995; Brown County 4-H Program-Friend of 4-H Award, 1990; West Union Lions Club, Life Squad and Adams County Jaycees. In 1986, Purdy was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame; in 1996, she became a State Honorary Member of Delta Kappa Gamma; in 1998 she was awarded Woman of the Year by the Ohio Association Teachers of Family & Consumer Services; and in 2000 she was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame, Southern State Community

College. 

   • Louise Fenner Sprinkle can be described through the phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” The educator and leader in community service and public affairs was stricken with TB as a teen. 

She grew up in Samantha and was an athlete and academic scholar. She was told she could not pursue her dream of a career in either teaching or nursing. Therefore, following graduation from Hillsboro High School, she attended Columbus Office Training School, living on $5 per week and working part-time.

Following graduation, she returned to Hillsboro and began attending the Hillsboro Church of Christ. It was there that she met her future husband,

Howard, had four children, and began a lifetime of teaching and service to others. She taught Wee and Primary Worship at the church and was a teacher

of the Tuesday Morning Bible Study. Years later, having received home communion when her husband was home bound before his passing in 2009, she

delighted in seeing the Wees and Primaries, now grown men, remembering the elderly and serving the love of Christ. Having four children and living on a

farm, Louise found in the 4-H program another opportunity to serve.  

   She was a sewing adviser for 14 years at the Petersburg School where extension machines and her own were used to help youth gain the skills her grandmother had instilled in her. She went on to serve on the county 4-H council and attended the National 4-H Training Center as a Voting Delegate.

Flowers, especially roses, always held interest for her.

Joining the Hillsboro Garden Club in 1983, she became instrumental in helping to put into reality a Katherine Zane Granger estate donation that transformed the former implement fair building into an enclosed insulated facility that houses three separate floral shows during Labor Day week. As the wife of a farmer, Louise became active in the Farm Bureau, joining the North Paint Township Bureau. Starting in 1955, Louise helped initiate the enlarged

agenda of Republican Women meetings with candidates’ support and debate on the issues. She is past president of North Paint Central Republican Women's Committee.

   This year’s honorees will be inducted into the Highland County Women’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at Southern State Community College.

Tickets cost $16 each and can be obtained at the following locations: Greenfield Building and Loan in Greenfield, Leesburg Federal in Leesburg and the Highland County Chamber of Commerce in Hillsboro. 

For 30 years, the women who have helped lead, serve and better the Highland County community have been honored for their dedication and for their service. In a ceremony scheduled for Aug. 31, four more women will be added to the 87 inductees of the Highland County Women’s Hall of Fame. 

   Representing areas of community service, education, business and community service, Thelma L. Coffey, Rose Fisher Merkowitz, Virginia Milner Purdy and Louise Fenner Sprinkle will be inducted into the hall of fame. 

   • Thelma L. Coffey, an educator and leader in community service, “Has distinguished herself by a lifetime of service to others,” according to her nomination letter. Devotion to family, a 30-year career in education, and an active community volunteer, describes her very busy and fulfilling life.

   A lifelong resident of the Greenfield area, Coffey graduated from McClain High School in 1937. She earned a Cadet Certificate in 1957 and became a third grade teacher for the Greenfield Schools, then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in 1963 and a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1970, all the while juggling a home, family and career. Again, in the words of her nominator, “Mrs. Coffey loved being a teacher.” 

   “She often stayed late and frequently spent her own money to purchase materials for classroom projects.”

   Following retirement from the classroom in 1987, Mrs. Coffey has taken an active role in serving her community through volunteerism. Greenfield Mothers Club, Order of the Eastern Star, Garden Club, Greenfield Area Life Squad, Greenfield Area Christian Center, Greenfield First United Methodist Church, Delta Kappa Gamma Society International and Greenfield Area Medical Center Volunteers are among the many community organizations that have benefited from her service. 

   • Rose Fisher Merkowitz, a Family and Consumer Sciences Educator and County Extension Director for The Ohio State University in Highland County, has held that post for the past 23 years. She also oversees all the 4-H Family and Consumer Science projects in the county, advises the 4-H Family and Consumer Sciences Board, the Highland County Junior Fairboard, and assists with the 4-H Camping program, and works to further community development. She is very community-minded and works with several local organizations including the Highland County Commissioners, Highland County Job and Family Services, Highland County Children Services and the Highland County Community Action Organization. She has provided leadership to several county needs assessments which assist community leaders in gathering data for community improvements and for grants.

   Community leadership is one of Merkowitz’s specialties, having become a certified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Emotional Intelligence and Asset Building trainer. 

She is known throughout the state of Ohio and has taught nationally and internationally for her Myers-Briggs and Emotional Intelligence trainings along with her boardsmanship and other leadership trainings. She works closely with The Ohio State University Human Resources by providing educational training for their Leading Edge (Middle Management Program). In addition to leadership training, Dining with Diabetes, Family Fun Night (a six-week parenting course), budgeting classes for low income families, food safety, estate planning, are a few of the teaching and training initiatives conducted by Rose.  

   In the words of her nominator: “Rose exemplifies professionalism in her teaching, her work ethic, her continued quest for new knowledge and the enthusiasm she brings to all her presentations. She engages each learner to become more than what they were and to utilize the information to enhance their lives in a positive manner.”

   • Virginia Milner Purdy, a businesswomen, was born in Leesburg to a teacher mother and legislator father, so public service and leadership come naturally to her. Following graduation from Ohio State University, she taught home economics at Jones Junior High in Upper Arlington, was co-owner of a general store in Georgetown, and then in 1981 she became president and general manager of WRAC radio in West Union. Selling the station in 1997, Purdy returned home to Leesburg to assist her aging father.  

   Purdy has managed a nursing home, been an adjunct professor at Wilmington College, served as executive director for Leadership Highland and co-executive director of Clinton County Leadership Institute, and worked as a financial adviser. Her community service activities include: four years on the Ohio State Board of Education; BEST (a statewide business and education organization), serving as member of the Board of Directors; Adams County Extension Advisory Board; Private Industry Council; Shawnee Mental Health Board; Seal of Ohio Girl Scout Council Board of Directors and Honorary Board Member; United Way of Brown County, Campaign Chairman; West Union Federated Women’s Club; West Union Lion’s Club; Research Club of Georgetown; American Association of University Women; Highland County Chamber of Commerce; Hillsboro and Greenfield Rotary; and Samaritan Outreach Services. Among her many honors and awards: Adams County 4-H program-Friend of 4-H Award, 1982 and 1995; Brown County 4-H Program-Friend of 4-H Award, 1990; West Union Lions Club, Life Squad and Adams County Jaycees. In 1986, Purdy was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame; in 1996, she became a State Honorary Member of Delta Kappa Gamma; in 1998 she was awarded Woman of the Year by the Ohio Association Teachers of Family & Consumer Services; and in 2000 she was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame, Southern State Community

College. 

   • Louise Fenner Sprinkle can be described through the phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” The educator and leader in community service and public affairs was stricken with TB as a teen. 

She grew up in Samantha and was an athlete and academic scholar. She was told she could not pursue her dream of a career in either teaching or nursing. Therefore, following graduation from Hillsboro High School, she attended Columbus Office Training School, living on $5 per week and working part-time.

Following graduation, she returned to Hillsboro and began attending the Hillsboro Church of Christ. It was there that she met her future husband,

Howard, had four children, and began a lifetime of teaching and service to others. She taught Wee and Primary Worship at the church and was a teacher of the Tuesday Morning Bible Study. Years later, having received home communion when her husband was home bound before his passing in 2009, she delighted in seeing the Wees and Primaries, now grown men, remembering the elderly and serving the love of Christ. Having four children and living on a farm, Louise found in the 4-H program another opportunity to serve.  

   She was a sewing adviser for 14 years at the Petersburg School where extension machines and her own were used to help youth gain the skills her grandmother had instilled in her. She went on to serve on the county 4-H council and attended the National 4-H Training Center as a Voting Delegate.

Flowers, especially roses, always held interest for her.

Joining the Hillsboro Garden Club in 1983, she became instrumental in helping to put into reality a Katherine Zane Granger estate donation that transformed the former implement fair building into an enclosed insulated facility that houses three separate floral shows during Labor Day week. As the wife of a farmer, Louise became active in the Farm Bureau, joining the North Paint Township Bureau. Starting in 1955, Louise helped initiate the enlarged agenda of Republican Women meetings with candidates’ support and debate on the issues. She is past president of North Paint Central Republican Women's Committee.

   This year’s honorees will be inducted into the Highland County Women’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at Southern State Community College.

Tickets cost $16 each and can be obtained at the following locations: Greenfield Building and Loan in Greenfield, Leesburg Federal in Leesburg and the Highland County Chamber of Commerce in Hillsboro.