Toland-Herzig Famous Endings Museum

05/25/2026

“Every stone has a story”

05/21/2026

A fine group of folks from the Holmes County Retired Teachers organization visited earlier today, followed by a large group of esteemed guests from Pittsburgh.

05/13/2026

Got to share the museum with a great group of folks the Cleveland-Willoughby area. Thanks JKL Tours for including us on your agenda.

04/16/2026

REMEMBERING THEM….and sharing their stories

Who was Lou Holtz?

He was born in Follansbee, West Virginia and he, along with his parents and older sister resided in a one bedroom home without a bathtub or shower. At the beginning of World War II, Lou’s father joined the United States Navy and was stationed in the Pacific while the rest of the family relocated to East Liverpool, Ohio and resided with his maternal grandparents. Even though growing up poor, Lou was taught to believe that if you make good choices and showed respect to others good things would happen to you. He helped support his family during his childhood years by working a paper route and other small jobs. After graduating from East Liverpool High School, with his family’s help, he attended Kent State University and was a member of the KSU football team. During his college years, Lou was also affiliated with the ROTC program and graduated with a degree in history. Following college, Lou was given a graduate assistantship with the athletic program at the University of Iowa where he also earned a Masters degree. During that same time, he married the love of his life, Beth who was also from East Liverpool.

Lou began his coaching career when he was selected as Assistant coach at William & Mary University in Williamsburg, Virginia followed by assistant coaching positions at Connecticut, South Carolina and Ohio State University. He eventually returned to William & Mary for his first head coaching job in 1969 leading his team to the Tangerine Bowl. In 1972, Lou moved to North Carolina State and won the ACC conference championship. He then took the coaching job for the New York Jets that didn’t go well. He returned to college football by joining the University of Arkansas Razorbacks where he compiled a record of 60-21-2 and led them to six consecutive bowl appearances and four Top 10 Rankings. He is most remembered for his football career at the University of Notre Dame (1986-96) and then South Carolina (1999-2004). He led Notre Dame to nine consecutive bowl games and a record of 100-30-2. He was named National Coach of the Year in both 1977 and 1988. His final coaching record totaled 249 wins, 132 losses and 7 ties. Following his coaching career, Holtz became a college football analyst for CBS sports and ESPN.

In addition to his successful coaching career, Holtz became a popular motivational speaker and authored 14 books. He was known for his many quotes. His highest honor came in 2020 when President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The legendary coach died on March 4, 2026 at the age of 89 in Orlando, Florida where he resided.

Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday evening, March 15 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the Notre Dame campus to show support to his family and pay their respects to Coach Holtz. He was wearing his Presidential Medal for the viewing. The following day, March 16, beginning at 1pm his funeral mass was held in the Basilica that included a tribute by his son, Coach “Skip” Holtz. Following the funeral mass, fans, supporters, players and family lined North Notre Dame Avenue as the hearse followed by family processed to the Cedar Grove Cemetery located on the Notre Dame campus where he was laid to rest beside his beloved Beth. The committal service included a performance by the Notre Dame Trumpet Band.

04/13/2026

https://www.kates-boylston.com/american-cemetery-and-cremation/on-the-road-dover-ohio/article_a3997596-253f-46f5-a073-9ececd62320c.html

An hour south of Cleveland, Ohio, not far from the city of Canton, I found myself in the small town of Dover, where I was in search of some cemetery-related

04/04/2026

New display in honor and memory of TV host Regis Philbin

03/27/2026

A fun group paying us a visit from Barnesville New Concord area today.

03/08/2026

REMEMBERING THEM….and sharing their stories

Who was Stephen Foster?

Stephen Foster was born on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1826 in Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh) Pennsylvania. He attended private schools and had a particular interest in English grammar, penmanship, and mathematics.

Stephen was a self taught musician having learned to play the piano, clarinet, guitar, and flute. His brother introduced him to a music dealer in Pittsburgh by the name of Henry Kleber who worked with him to compose music and Stephen became a big fan of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. He wrote his first song at the age of 14 titled Tioga Waltz that led Foster to write 286 songs in twenty years. Among those songs still listened to today are Oh! Susanna, Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home a.k.a. Swanee River, My Old Kentucky Home, Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair (written to his wife), Old Black Joe, and Beautiful Dreamer. During his most successful years, Foster’s songwriting brought annual earnings to over $1700 that was a large amount of money for the mid-nineteenth century. Many of his songs were used in the old (blackface) minstrel shows.

Stephen Foster became known as “the Father of American Music.” Many of his compositions had southern themes even though Stephen only visited the south once in his life having traveled with his wife Jane by steamboat to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Many of his songs today are seen as controversial, particularly those written for the minstrels having seen as dehumanizing to the African American population. Even Foster himself described lyrics as trashy and offensive. In Foster’s later life, he struggled financially due to poor royalty management and his battle with alcohol. He spent his later life living in the Bowery in New York.

On January 10, 1864, Foster got up to get a drink of water and fainted having struck his head against a wash bowl. A maid found him lying in a pool of blood. He supposedly told the maid that he was done for. He was taken by carriage to the Bellevue Hospital in New York and died three days later on January 13, 1864 at the age of 37. He left behind a very small amount of money and a legacy far greater than anyone at the time could have imagined.

Foster’s funeral was held at the Trinity Church in New York and was attended by many people including prominent musicians. His mentor, Henry Kleber led the service and a brass band performed Foster’s songs that included Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming and Old Folks at Home. Following the service, Foster’s lead casket was taken by rail to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and now rests beside his parents in the Allegheny Cemetery.

His final composition was the song “Beautiful Dreamer” published two months following his death. It is believed that the song was written because of thoughts of escaping the bitter reality of the Bowery.

Many of his compositions remain popular today. Among them is the State of Kentucky theme song, My Old Kentucky Home and Florida’s theme song, “Suwannee River. His melodies helped shape American music. In addition, two state parks bear his name. A memorial was built in White Springs, Florida named the Stephen Foster Memorial located “Way down upon the Suwannee River. Famous Endings display includes the original dedication program (pictured) held on October 4, 1950 and signed by Florida’s Governor Fuller Warren who presided over the dedication along with Foster’s granddaughter, Mrs. Ralph (Dorothy) Melady and soloist Gloria Willar.

02/21/2026

REMEMBERING THEM….and sharing their stories

Who was Dr. Gladys West?

She was born in Sutherland, Virginia, one of four children to Nolan and Macy Brown. Her parents instilled in her at a young age the values of hard work, perseverance and faith. She understood the value of a good education that earned her being named the valedictorian of her high school class and earned her a scholarship to Virginia State College (now Virginia State University).

She earned a Bachelor and Master degree in Mathematics and her passion from learning continued throughout her life where she later earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma and a PhD in Public Administration from Virginia Tech. She earned all of these degrees while working full time and surviving a major stroke.

In 1956, she began her historic career at the U.S. Naval Weapons laboratory in Dahlgren, Virginia. She was the second black woman hired at the base and the fourth black employee. During her 42 years of service, Gladys rose to the ranks of becoming a supervisory mathematician and project manager. She made groundbreaking contributions to satellite geodesy and contributions to mathematical modeling of the shape of the earth. She earned the title of “The Mother of GPS (Global Positioning System)” Her work helped refine the accuracy of satellite data and underpins technologies from smartphones, to navigation systems in cars and aircraft that we use daily around the world.

Dr. West authored several technical publications that advanced the Navy’s Department of Defense.

Over the years, she received numerous honors that include the Award of Merit for Group Achievement from the Department of Navy. In her later years, Dr. West gained global recognition with international interviews and academic speaking engagements. She received Honorary doctorate degrees from both Virginia State and the University of Oklahoma. She was inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame, BBC 100 Women, and the Prestigious Prince Philip Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

In 2020, Dr. West wrote and published her memoir “It Began With A Dream.”

Dr. Gladys West died on January 17, 2026 in Fredericksburg, Virginia at the age of 95.

A Celebration of her Remarkable Blessed Life was held in the Rocky Branch Baptist Church in Sutherland, Virginia on February 7, 2026 (program pictured). “Though she wore many titles- PhD, mathematician, trailblazer, wife, mother, grandmother, mentor-Dr. Gladys B. West will most be remembered as a woman who truly lived by her belief that through Christ, all things are possible.

She now rests alongside her husband of 67 years, Ira West who was a fellow mathematician, in the Dinwiddle Memorial Park in North Dinwiddle, Virginia.

02/03/2026

REMEMBERING THEM….and sharing their stories

Who was Terry Bollea?

He was born in Augusta, Georgia and at the age of one, his family moved to Tampa, Florida. He grew up with a love of pitching a baseball. He attended the Robinson High School. Among his other early loves was playing the bass guitar where he performed with several rock bands. When Terry was sixteen, he became enthused with professional wrestling. He attended numerous wrestling events and was a huge fan of “Superstar” Billy Graham and Terry was inspired to develop a likeness to Graham’s physical appearance.

He continued to take a serious look at professional wrestling and hooked up with a wrestling trainer, Hiro Matsuda who trained other successful wrestlers in the Florida area. In his first training session, Matsuda broke Terry’s leg that took him ten weeks to recover. Bollea made his wrestling debut on August 10, 1977 against a wrestler by the name of Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida. In Bollea’s early years he took on several names including “The Super Destroyer” “Sterling Gold” “ Mr. America” and Terry Boulder. Bollea’s success became evident in 1979 when he joined the WWF and in the early 1980’s with the help of wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, Bollea took on the name of Hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan became a household name and would become larger than life with his unmatched wrestling skills and his iconic handlebar mustache, 6 foot 7 frame, and his red and gold apparel that included a headband. He began every match by tearing off his shirt and entering the arenas with his theme song “Eye of the Tiger”.

His successful wrestling career included numerous championships with six WWE titles along with WCW World Heavyweight wins. He wrestled all of the great wrestlers of his time and drew millions of fans to arenas and pay for view events. He was the first professional wrestler to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. In addition to success in the ring, Hogan appeared in movie and television roles that include Rocky III, No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando, and Mr. Nanny. His three television shows were Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and The Ultimate Weapon and made numerous other appearances including commercials for Right Guard deodorant. A video game was also produced named Hulk Hogan’s Main Event.

Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.

He was a political conservative and Christian. He was a strong supporter of Donald Trump .

Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) died as the result of a massive heart attack on July 24, 2025 at the age of 71 in his home in Clearwater, Florida.

His private funeral (program pictured) was held on August 5, 2025 at the Indian Rocks Baptist Church in Largo, Florida (the church where he was baptized in 2023). The service was attended by his family, close friends, and wrestling legends including Ric Flair and Triple H along with performer Kid Rock and the McMahon family.

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags flown at half-staff at all official buildings and declared that day Hulk Hogan Day.

He was later cremated and other details of his place of rest are unknown.