ALLIANCE, OHIO – (Sept. 28, 2023) – On Monday, Oct. 2, Alliance High School (AHS) will induct a new class of distinguished alumni into its ranks.
“It is with great pleasure that we announce the AHS grads who have earned the distinction of distinguished alumni. Sarah Morris Brown ‘61, Valerie Vanaman ‘61, Joyce Crain ‘59 and Lionel Grimes ‘68 were selected based on areas that include outstanding careers, community works which enhance the lives of others, and honors received based on their accomplishments,” said Jody Koenigseker, chair of the distinguished alumni committee. “We congratulate each one and thank them for being outstanding citizens and alumni.”
The distinguished alumni committee has been honoring alumni since its first induction in 1967. Over the years, nearly 100 notable individuals have received the distinction.
Sarah Morris Brown was born and raised in Alliance. She graduated from AHS in 1961 at the age of 16. She attended her freshman year at Mount Union College before transferring and graduating from Barnard College, Columbia University, NYC in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in history. In 1968, she graduated from Case-Western University School of Law, where she was one of two women in a class of 120. Brown married her husband Charles E. Brown and had three children - Charles III, Hannah and Duncan. She chose to be a stay at home mother while her children were younger, but as they got older, her engagement in public service grew. Brown successfully co-chaired a 6-mil levy campaign for Alliance City Schools and was elected to two terms on the Alliance Board of Education. She was president of the board in 1991 when AHS acquired the A-7 Navy Corsair jet, which has been a prominent feature of the school’s campus since.
Brown played a key role in helping to facilitate the auctioning of the closed Franklin School to create a Head Start program at the building. She was also a founding member of the AHS Top 10% Banquet and has served as a board member for the Alliance High School Alumni Association since its inception 35 years ago, including serving as board president for 25 years.
Brown served 25 years as an elected member of the Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee and served as a delegate to four Republican Presidential Conventions.
Joyce Harmon Crain is a 1959 graduate of Alliance High School. She went on to receive a bachelors of fine arts in painting from Bowling Green State University. From there she received a masters of fine arts from George Washington University in conjunction with the Corocoran Museum in Washington DC. Crain has received many honors over the years, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships.
She has excelled in three-dimensional designs using unique materials to illuminate artistic and architectural spaces. Her works have been displayed in many museums, such as the Cleveland Museum of Art. She has also been commissioned by IBM, Apple Computer, AARP, Texas Instruments and UPS Worldwide Logistics. Her work can be seen at JFK Airport, Knoxville Convention Center and the Center for the Arts Fellowship in Chandler, Arizona.
Lionel “Dowdy” Grimes graduated from AHS in 1968. He was a successful athlete during his time at AHS, earning letters in football, basketball and baseball along with being named an All-Ohio Football Selection. He chose to continue his education and football career at the University of Wyoming. Unfortunately, due to the disparities at Wyoming, 14 African American members of the Wyoming football team were removed, this included Grimes. The group became known as the Black 14. After his departure from the University of Wyoming, he attended Findlay University where he played baseball. Following graduation, Grimes was presented with the opportunity to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he chose to take the corporate route and accepted a position at Ford Motor Company.
Grimes was honored with the Barrier Breaker Award from the National Consortium for Academic and Sports (NCAS) at the University of Central Florida in 2017. In 2019, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the African American Diaspora Studies at the University of Wyoming for his vision, contribution and dedication to the struggle of Black liberation. He was selected as the 2022 Alliance City Schools Pathfinder Award recipient and had the opportunity to present to students at Alliance High School and Alliance Middle School about his experience growing up in town and as a member of the Black 14.
Valerie Vanaman graduated from AHS in 1961. She continued her undergraduate education at the Ohio State University (OSU) before attending the OSU College of Law in 1964. In 1967, she was designated by the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity as one of the 50 Reginald Herber Fellows to work in legal services following law school. Vanaman traveled to California for the fellowship where she worked at the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach. During her career, she was a teaching fellow at Harvard Law School in the mid seventies and worked with the Children’s Defense Fund. Most of her law career was in California. She is a founding partner of Vanaman-German LLP, the largest law firm in California providing representation for children with disabilities.
Since the beginning of her career, Vanaman has represented people who need help obtaining services from private and governmental agencies and providing legal representation to families with special services. She has received many awards throughout her career including the Reginald Herber Smith - National Legal Aid Defender Association award for outstanding service and achievement advancing the cause of equal access to justice in 1979 and the Civil Rights award in 1997.
The Distinguished Alumni Induction festivities kick off on Friday, Sept. 29 when the inductees will be recognized before the Alliance High School varsity football game.
Community members are welcome to attend the induction ceremony on Monday. Those who attend will need to check into the security office at Alliance High School with their driver's license starting at 8:30 a.m. The ceremony begins promptly at 9 a.m.
A livestream of the induction ceremony is available and free to watch here: https://localbroadcastnetwork.com/video/alliance-high-school-2023-distinguished-alumni-ceremony/
For more information about the Alliance City School District, visit www.alliancecityschools.org.