Two alumni to be inducted into Libby hall
Two Libby High School graduates who left Libby and excelled in their respected careers will be honored at 7 p.m. Monday during the Honor Society’s Induction Ceremony at Ralph Tate Gymnasium.
Col. James D. Hogan (retired) and M. Duane Nellis, Ph.D., will be the latest inductees into the Libby High School Distinguished Hall of Fame. Hogan, a 1967 graduate, had an impressive military career that began with him serving as a helicopter gunner during the Vietnam War. Nellis, an internationally known geographer and former president of the University of Idaho, is currently the president of Texas Tech University. He is a 1972 Libby High School graduate.
“They have been on our radar screen for some time,” Libby High teacher Jeff Gruber said of the 2014 inductees. “We are humbled by the quality of our alumni.”
Gruber is assisting Honor Society Advisor Jon England with the ceremony in handling inductees.
Hogan is a retired Army National Guard soldier who enlisted on Sept. 11, 1967, who worked briefly at the St. Regis Lumber Co. the summer after he graduated.
“After that summer, I think I had four options — the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force,” Hogan mused.
He began his military career just after high school. After basic training at Fort Lewis, Wash., and advanced individual training at Fort Eustis, Va., he served with the 68th Assault Helicopter Co., 1st Aviation Brigade, in Vietnam as a UH-1D “Huey” helicopter crew chief and gunner.
“When I left the Army later, I realized I missed the helicopters,” Hogan said. “By that time I was teaching in Noxon, and I enjoyed that, too.”
After an initial tour in Vietnam, he did a short tour in Germany before he returned to Vietnam for a second tour. He served with B-Battery 2/20th Aerial Rocket Artillery.
Hogan returned to Montana in September 1970 and attended the University of Montana. He graduated in 1975. He enlisted in the Montana Army National Guard in September 1976. Later, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in June 1978.
Some of his military schooling included basic and advanced individual training, armor and armored cavalry basic and advanced-officer courses, command and general staff officer college, and Joint Forces Command Seminar. He is a 2000 graduate of the U.S. Army War College. As a graduate of the Army War College, he received his masters degree in defense and strategic studies.
Among his service awards and decorations are Air Crewman Wings, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Air Medals.
Hogan began his full-time National Guard career in 1986 as a cavalry squadron-training officer. His civilian jobs included logging-road construction, and teaching sixth grade in Noxon.
Hogan’s parents are the late James (Jim) and Margaret Hogan of Libby.
He and his wife, Suzanna, a retired Army nurse, reside in Helena. They have two children, Brandon and Brittany, and five grandchildren.
“It was quite a shock to get the phone call,” said Hogan, who plans to visit family members while here.
The other inductee, Nellis, is the 16th president of Texas Tech University, a national research university. He is on the verge of his first anniversary of serving at Texas Tech, having accepted the position in June 2013.
“I was somewhat surprised and humbled,” Nellis said upon learning of his induction. “Libby has always been such a part of me. I still have family there. Al Fantozzi is my uncle, and I plan to see them when there.”
As Texas Tech president, Nellis serves as the chief executive officer of a university with more than 33,000 students, more than 5,400 faculty and staff and a budget of more than $800 million.
As an internationally recognized geographer, Nellis is past-president of both the Association of American Geographers and the National Council for Geographic Education.
During his professional career, his research has focused on the use of satellite data and geographic information systems to analyze various dimensions of the earth’s land surface. His research, which has led him to 23 countries around the world, has been funded by more than 50 sources, and includes grants from NASA, the National Geographic Society, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His research has led to more than 120 articles and reports in a wide range of professional journals and 17 books and book chapters. In addition, he has given hundreds of presentations and has been invited to speak at more than 60 universities and related settings internationally.
Nellis has also been recognized nationally and internationally for his research and teaching, receiving distinguished research awards from the Association of American Geographers and the Institute of British Geographers, and outstanding teaching and advising awards from Kansas State University. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a recognition given to only a limited number of individual scientists each year in the United States. Oregon State University also presented Dr. Nellis with its Distinguished Alumni Fellow Award.
Nellis was born in Spokane, Wash., to Marvin and Sophie Nellis, and spent his youth in Libby where he attended grades kindergarten through 12th. His father worked at Champion International and his mother was a nurse at St. John’s Lutheran Hospital.
Nellis earned his bachelor degree in earth sciences/geography in 1976 from Montana State University, and attended Oregon State University in Corvallis, earning his master’s degree in 1977. He earned his Ph.D. in 1980. He met and married his wife, Ruthie, while at Montana State University, and they have two sons, Jonathan and Jason.
Despite their different career paths, both men learned their work ethic from parents who had roots in the Kootenai National Forest. Nellis’ father worked for J. Neils and St. Regis Lumber Cos. Hogan’s father was a U.S. Forest Service employee.
“There were certain characteristics of growing up in Libby,” Nellis said. “A work ethic. My parents walked that walk. That was their value, and they instilled that into me.”
Hogan agreed.
“When I graduated high school, you would walk right out and get a job at the mill,” Hogan said. “There was a blue-collar, strong, work ethic. That was Libby.”