Hall of Fame

Six individuals comprise the Neenah Joint School District’s 2026 Hall of Fame class that will be inducted as part of Homecoming festivities this fall. Those inducted will be George Christoph, Lisa Drew, Frank Eparvier, Edward Krause, Lori Shepard and Kevin Wasco.

The group will be honored at a bruncheon on Saturday, October 10 at 9:30 a.m. at Bridgewood Conference Center. Tickets will be available beginning in August. This year’s induction brings the total number of inductees to 67 over the event’s 11-year history.

George Christoph (Class of 1920) - Christoph captained Neenah’s first appearance at the WIAA state boys basketball tournament as a senior and later coached the Rockets to a state tournament in 1925. He started and directed the Neenah summer recreation programs in 1926 and served as Neenah High School Dean from 1941-64. Following retirement, he spent 15 years on the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors and was active in community programs for the elderly. A three-sport athlete in basketball, football and track, Christoph coached Neenah’s football team from 1935-43, was the first coach of the Neenah wrestling and boxing programs and officiated high school sports for 25 years. He died in 1981 at age 80.

Lisa Drew (Class of 1957) - Drew established herself as a successful book editor, rising to Executive Editor at Doubleday, Vice President and senior editor at William  Morrow and Co. and finally Vice President and Publisher of Lisa Drew Books/Scribner. She edited Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Roots, and a wide range of authors including Barbara Bush, President George H.W. Bush, Betty White, Helen Thomas, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist. She chaired the Freedom to Read Committee of the Association of American Publishers for three terms. At Neenah High School, she was president of the Thespians, for two years wrote a bi-monthly column for the school paper, was a member of the National Honor Society, and spoke at the 1957 commencement. She graduated from UW-Madison in 1961 and now resides in Greenport, N.Y.

Frank Eparvier (Class of 1982) - Eparvier has been a senior research associate at the University of Colorado-Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics since 1997. During that time, he has supported over a dozen sounding rocket flights and been an instrument scientist for several NASA missions. He was the lead scientist of the Extreme Ultraviolet Monitor on NASA’s MAVEN mission to Mars. Eparvier currently has seven instruments in space collecting data on solar variability and the response of atmospheres to that variability. In high school, he participated in drama productions and computer club. He graduated from UW-Madison in 1985 with degrees in physics and mathematics and began his career as a graduate student at UC-Boulder in 1989. He resides in Loveland, Colo.

Edward Krause (Class of 1935) - Krause was a standout in athletics, music and drama in high school and went onto a highly-decorated military career. He made four combat jumps in World War II and led 150 paratroopers in the only successful mission of the 82nd Airborne Division during the D-Day Invasion in 1944. He raised the first American flag over French territory, liberating the town of St. Mere Eglise two hours before the main invasion forces landed on Normandy Beach. Krause also participated in the Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Sicily and earned a Silver Star and Distinguished Service Cross. In high school, he was part of several school plays, placed third at the state music festival in the sousaphone and finished fifth at the state track meet in the hurdles. He also played football and basketball. After the war, Krause was a senior Army Advisor to the Alabama and Mississippi National Guards and lived in Mobile, Ala. He died in 1970 at age 53.

Lori Shepard (Class of 1980) - Shepard was a three-sport athlete in high school, a national champion in college and a collegiate and national track and field coach. She served as the head women’s track and field coach at Vanderbilt University from 2001-07 and has coached numerous USA track and field squads. She was the USA head coach at the indoor world championships in Poland in 2014. Shepard participated in volleyball, basketball and track and field in high school and held the Neenah High School high jump record for over three decades. She won the NAIA high jump national championship at Taylor University (Ind.) and was inducted into the Taylor University Hall of Fame. Shepard has been an official at the Pan American Games and USA Olympic Trials. She is currently a personal fitness trainer and resides in Brentwood, Tenn.

Kevin Wasco (Class of 1986) - Wasco has been a partner and vice-president of Surgical Associates in Neenah since 2002. A Marquette University and UW-Madison Medical School graduate, Wasco is a Board Certified General surgeon. He received the Forward Award from the UW-Madison Department of Surgery and the Lifetime Excellence in Community Surgery Award from The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons. In high school, he was a standout on Neenah’s 1985 state champion soccer team and participated in Science Olympiad and forensics. Wasco played four seasons of soccer at Marquette and led the team in goals as a junior. He has coached youth soccer and has been active with the Neenah soccer booster club for numerous years.

Neenah Joint School District Hall of Fame Information

The Neenah Joint School District Hall of Fame was established in the spring of 2014 and inducted its inaugural class on homecoming weekend in the fall of 2015. A 15-memb

er committee has been established to select the Hall of Fame class. Nominations for next year's Hall of Fame class are now being accepted through November 30. Nomination forms are available through a link on this page and can be submitted online or by mail.

Throughout the long and storied history of the Neenah Joint School District, a “Passion for Excellence” has been the inspiration for many extraordinary performances by student-athletes, for a vast collection of exceptional artistic, musical and literary creations by young students, and for the academic achievements of aspiring scholars. It has also been the motivation behind important careers of service to the NJSD as teacher, coach, administrator, parent, booster and volunteer. It has been the cornerstone to the remarkable lives of countless Neenah alumni.

It is the mission of the NJSD Hall of Fame to recognize Neenah students, alumni, staff and others who have distinguished themselves through athletic, academic and artistic pursuits, by contributions to their profession or field of study, in their service to the NJSD, and through important contributions to their community. By honoring these fine people, the NJSD Hall of Fame hopes to inspire current Neenah students in every facet of their young lives.