Four Honored by Foundation
Apr 20, 2020
The Beatrice Educational Foundation is naming three graduates to it Hall of Fame including Lou Burkel, class of 1959; Ron Byars, class of 1955; and Everett “Pid” Purdy, class of 1921. Purdy’s award is being given posthumously. Pat Timm is the 2020 Friend of Education Recipient.
Lou Burkel
He spent a career protecting our freedoms
Lou Burkel spent his career serving his country and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for Heroism and the Distinguished Flying Cross for Extraordinary Flight Achievement. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1967 in the United States Air Force and when he retired in 1993 as a Lieutenant Colonel he had a total of 3,282 total flying hours including 2,662 flying a B52 and 1,092 in combat. He spent 502 days in Vietnam flying 196 total combat missions.
He received 13 air medals, and 4 meritorious Service Medals. He is also a distinguished graduate of the Squadron Officer School and graduated from the Air Command & Staff College and the Air War College.
Burkel was then transferred to the United States Air Force Academy teaching physical education and coaching the gymnastics team using the skills he acquired while at Beatrice High School. He was a gymnast in high school and helped earn a state championship during his season year placing second all around.
From 1979 through 2005 he was the head men and women’s gymnastics coach, was named the NCAA regional coach of the year three times and served two terms on the United States Gymnastics Board of Directors. He also served two terms as president of the Collegiate Gymnastics Association. He was recognized with an Honorary Lifetime CGA Membership Award in 2008.
Burkel is grateful for the role his hometown and high school played in his development. “Beatrice and Beatrice High School were so instrumental in my life, and I have many, many fond memories. First of all, Beatrice is a wonderful city and a terrific place to grow up-kind of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Beatrice citizens are good people, and I am grateful to have been surrounded by so many great examples.”
He graduated from BHS in 1959, the University of Nebraska and the Air War College.
Ronald Byars
He has used his talents to serve God and man
Ronald Byars is currently a Professor Emeritus at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He is also a Presbyterian minister, the author of nine books, and a faculty member at Union Presbyterian Seminary including serving as a Special Assistant to the President of the Seminary during a time of transition.
He served congregations in Nebraska, Michigan and Kentucky before becoming a tenured professor of worship and teaching at Union Presbyterian Seminary and is now is a Professor Emeritus at Union.
He is the author of nine books and has devoted his life to research, teaching, and preaching. Byars continues to write and embrace his love of life-long teaching and preaching, in particular, to those who are also preachers and theologians.
His latest book, “Believer on Sunday, Atheist by Thursday: Is Faith Still Possible?” has drawn praise. “This uncommonly well-written analysis of what ails the mainline churches in our day is an electric charge of a book.”
Byars also contributed to the Companion to The Book of Common Worship in 2003 and in 2018. His writings are directed both toward the church and the theological academy.
Byars has traveled extensively in researching the history of the Presbyterian Church and has written numerous articles relating to its history.
Serving as a faculty member also resulted in many invitations for Byars to teach and preach in a variety of settings scattered over the U.S. and Canada. He said many of the skills required to do these sorts of things I acquired early, in the Beatrice Public Schools. “I have not lost my passion for learning or my desire to communicate what I have learned,” said Byars.
He graduated from BHS in 1955, the University of Nebraska, Yale Divinity School, and earned a PhD in history from Michigan State University.
Everett ‘Pid’ Purdy
“The Greatest Orangeman of all”
Everett “Pid” Purdy was one of Nebraska’s only athletes to play both professional baseball and football. Purdy received all-state acclaim as a Beatrice High School quarterback in 1921 and played his first professional football with the Omaha Olympics in 1922-23.
Despite not having college experience, Purdy was good enough to play quarterback at an all-star club in a Shrine benefit game at Beatrice on Christmas Day in 1923. He played alongside Creighton’s Leahy and ex-Huskers Guy Chamberlin and Ernie Hubka. They defeated a Tecumseh Legion team, 16-0, and Purdy’s dropkicked field goal opened the scoring.
His first appearance as a major league baseball player came as a Chicago While Sox late in the 1926 season. The very same year he signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers. Purdy once dropkicked a ball 50 plus yards to allow the Packers to defeat the Chicago Cardinals, 3-0 in 1926. In his two year stint with the Packers, he produced one touchdown, 15 extra points and two field goals.
Purdy played 27 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1927 and batted .355. The next summer, he played 70 games and posted a .309 average slumping from .345 after a siege of flu and a badly sprained ankle. His professional career ended in 1929 after crashing into the outfield wall and suffering a fractured leg and head injuries.
Purdy was the sixth former athlete named to the Lincoln Journal’s Hall of Fame as one of Nebraska’s all time greats. “There was never a better competitor in sport to dash around end or haul down a fly ball after a desperate run. He weighed under 150 pounds and was only 5 foot 6 inches tall.
“I think he’s the first player to hit a home run in the Major Leagues and score a touchdown in the NFL,” said Bob Steinkamp of the Nebraska Baseball Hall of Fame. “He might be the only person in the history of the planet to hit a home run, score a touchdown and kick a field goal.
He was a 1921 graduate of Beatrice High School.
Pat Timm, Friend of Education
She continues to advocate for all students
Pat Timm served on the Beatrice Public Schools Board of Education from 1988 to 2004 and has served on the Nebraska State Board of Education since 2004. She was the recipient of the National Association of State Boards of Education 2018 Distinguished Service Award.
One of her strengths is her focus on all students. In her last campaign she said she was running to ensure all Nebraskans, regardless of their background or circumstances, have equitable opportunities to prepare them for success in school, their post-secondary education, career and civic life.
Timm has been an advocate for early childhood education and is proud of the voluntary rating system the department created for the pre-school programs. In addition, she thinks advanced placement courses and apprenticeship programs with local businesses are all factors that should be considered when looking at a school districts’ performance.
Timm’s involvement in education began as a kindergarten and K through 12 art teacher. She has also been the Education Coordinator for Centenary United Methodist Church and served on the Region V Behavioral Health Advisory Committee and the Southeast Nebraska Early Childhood Professional Development Planning Team.
Pat has served as an advocate for students across the state in her role as a State Board of Education Member, but closer to home she has been a major advocate for the creation and expansion of the Beatrice Public Schools Preschool. Her support of Early Childhood Education will be a legacy left for years to come on guaranteeing the youngest learners an equal start to their educational experience. Mrs. Timm has worked tirelessly to improve the programmatic delivery for Beatrice Public Schools as she has advocated for equity of students in poverty and students with special needs. Her work on the State Board of Education has directly influenced and benefited Beatrice Public Schools students through her passion to advocate for all children, regardless of socioeconomic or ethnic background,” said Jason Alexander, Beatrice Public Schools superintendent.