Hazel Fleischer Lingo

2013 Distinguished Staff

English.

Hazel Fleischer graduated from Seaman Rural High School and then Washburn College, later receiving her Master’s from KU in 1957. During the 1930s and 1940s she taught at various rural and small town Kansas high schools before a brief stint as an instructor at Washburn. She married Robert Lingo, a civil engineer, in 1940. Mrs. Lingo then became an English teacher at Topeka High, from 1951 to 1974. Upon retirement the Lingos entered a new phase as Topeka philanthropists with Ward-Meade Park and the Topeka-Shawnee County Public Library being two major beneficiaries. The stone barn at Ward-Meade is named for them, The Lingo Livery Stable; whereas the library’s rotunda, its chief architectural feature, honors their memory. She passed away in 1998.

Dorothy Jones Greer

2013 Distinguished Staff

English and Journalism. Born in Topeka in 1900, Dorothy Jones graduated from Topeka High in 1917 and four years later from Washburn College. She began her teaching career at Abilene High School but soon thereafter married William Greer and moved to Chicago. Returning to Topeka, Mrs. Greer taught English and Journalism, advisor to the THS World and Sunflower, from 1953 to 1965. Next, for five years she was a journalism professor at Washburn University. In 1970, Mrs. Greer moved to Estes Park, Colorado, where she spent the rest of her life, passing away in 2004 at the age of 104. Among her honors: induction into the Kansas State Press Association Hall of Fame for scholastic journalism, National Journalism Teacher of the Year (1962), and being acclaimed “one of twelve highest contributors to the field of Scholastic Journalism over the past 50 years” (1974).

Judy Stuenkel Soule (THS 1958)

2013 Hall of Fame Inductee

A Topeka High “over achiever,” Judy Stuenkel’s activities list in the back of the 1958 Sunflower goes on and on: A.F.S. Council, Thespians Sec. – Treas., Senior Class Sec. – Treas., plus two telling clubs: Future Teachers and Math Club. She attended Washburn University and began teaching mathematics at USD 501 in 1963. After a brief period as a substitute teacher, she resumed full time at Topeka High in 1976, becoming Chairman of the Math Dept. in 1978, a position held until retirement in 2001. The classroom hasn’t been the only part of her life; Mrs. Soule has been actively involved with Junior League of Topeka, Brewster Place Retirement Center Board of Directors, Topeka Symphony, ERC, United Way of Topeka; and the Topeka High School Historical Society and Friends of the Topeka High School Library. She is especially busy with the Washburn University Alumni Assn., serving as President in 1990-91.

Robert Dolgoff, M.D. (THS 1960)

2013 Hall of Fame Inductee

Psychiatrist and Medical Volunteer.

Topeka High activities were typical (debate, Boy’s Pep, Key Club) with one unique first; Dr. Dolgoff was Topeka High’s first A.F.S. student to study abroad, in France. College honors include Magna Cum Laude in English Literature from Harvard (1964) and Phi Beta Kappa followed with a medical degree, also from Harvard. After psychiatric residency in New York, Dr. Dolgoff moved to California, eventually becoming Chief Psychiatrist, Berkeley Therapy Institute (1978 – 2001) and then the Institute’s Medical Director (2001 – present). In 1990 he and another physician were invited to Laos to meet clinicians in that country. Seeing needs there, upon his return to America he sent textbooks, journals, and medications to Laos to bring them up-to-date. Out of this endeavor he established the non-profit, all-volunteer Doctor to Doctor program assisting medical facilities across the globe.

Norton Belknap (THS 1943)

2013 Hall of Fame Inductee

Chemical Engineer and Business Executive.

Graduating in 1943, the Topeka High ‘Honor T’ recipient would soon enter World War II. He became a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Air Force serving as a navigator on B-29s. After the war, he completed his education in chemical engineering, earning his Bachelor and Master’s degrees from MIT. He then joined Standard Oil, which is now Exxon. He quickly rose up in the ranks with executive positions in various foreign posts: Japan, Australia, and Europe. From 1979 to 1982 Mr. Belknap was Senior Vice President, Exxon International. Equally impressive are his credentials with New York and American cultural icons: President of the Paul Taylor Dance Co. (1983-2009), and Managing Director of Carnegie Hall (1983-1988) during its $50 million restoration.