3 to join LHS Hall of Fame
Nineteen people will be honored Monday evening during the National Honor Society’s Induction Ceremony at Libby High Schools Ralph Tate Gymnasium. Three are graduates who rose to accomplish great things and the balance are current students who aspire to do the same.
The event will commemorate the lives of Libby High graduates Lt. Robert Nolop, Celia Ann Brink and Dr. Gregory K. Luna, who will be inducted into the Libby High School Graduate Hall of Fame, as well as an induction ceremony for 16 students who are being recognized for their academic and service-to-community achievements.
“The National Honor Society organization recognizes students for their scholastic and service commitments,” said NHS Faculty Adviser Jon England. “These students have proven to be quality citizens through both their achievements in the classroom and to their community.”
The NHS Induction and Graduate Hall of Fame Ceremony begins at 7 p.m. Monday, April 15, at Ralph Tate Gymnasium.
Robert E. Nolop
Robert E. Nolop was born and raised in Libby. He was salutatorian of the Libby High School Class of 1939 and lettered in football and track. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where he joined the Class of 1944.
Because the Navy needed trained officers for the World War II effort, the Class of 1944 graduated a year early, in June 1943.
Aboard the Monaghan, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, junior grade.
In December 1944, the Monaghan was part of Task Force 38, an 86-ship battle group supporting Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s invasion of the Philippines when it encountered one of the worst storms the Navy had faced in its history. The storm, which was later named Typhoon Cobra, lashed the ships with 90-foot waves and 145-mph winds, sinking the Monaghan and two other destroyers on Dec. 18, 1944. None of the officers and only six of the sailors on board survived, some of whom spent 80 hours in the water when they were rescued.
The overall toll from the disaster was 790 men lost at sea and three sunken ships.
“There was a great deal of reverence for him, especially in my grandparents’ home,” said nephew John Brink. “Because he was listed as ‘lost at sea,’ my grandmother was hopeful that one day he might just walk though the door, that he was washed up on some deserted island and would be rescued.”
Celia Ann Brink
Celia Ann Brink (nee Nolop) was born and raised in Libby, and she was Robert Nolop’s sister.
Brink graduated as a member of the Libby High School Class of 1940, where she was recognized as a member of the Quill and Scroll (the international honorary society for high school journalists), received the Joughin Family Award for citizenship, and served as the class salutatorian.
After beginning her college studies at the University of Montana, Celia Ann transferred to the University of Washington, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in international relations and foreign trade in 1944.
After World War II, she married Burnell (Bob) Walter Brink, whom she had met in Libby just before he enlisted in the Army left to serve in Europe as a liaison pilot.
Celia Ann and her husband were both enamored of living and traveling overseas. They spent 10 years in the Middle East and North Africa, where Bob was employed by the Near East Foundation and the U.S. State Department.
“My mother was quite gregarious and outgoing,” said Brink, who plans to travel from Denver for the Monday ceremony. She was an amazing lady.”
Celia Ann died on July 3, 2003, at 80.
Gregory K. Luna, MD
Gregory K. Luna’s family moved to Libby in the summer of 1967. The family moved to Libby because his father was the superintendent for the railroad relocation component of the Libby Dam project. Although Luna and his siblings left Oregon with much consternation over the transition, it was not long before they realized they had relocated to a very special place, fishing most of the first summer on Little Wolf Creek and Fisher River.
“Every day (I was) amazed at the outdoor wonderland that we had tumbled into,” Luna, now a clinical associate professor with the Department of Surgery at the University of Washington at Seattle.
Like many med students, he entered with the intention of becoming a family physician.
Luna was given the opportunity to focus his life and practice by joining Inland Vascular Institute in 2005. In 2006, he was the last one to leave the council meeting and therefore ended up as the president of the North Pacific Surgical Association. During the past eight years Luna has limited his practice to vascular surgery. Along his his career, Luna has published a multitude of articles for a vast array of medical journals, include the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“I work with a dedicated and outstanding office and hospital staff. Once again, I am very lucky,” Luna said.