Springfield Public Schools has selected a NASA project manager, a retired network news producer and a former member of the Tuskegee Airmen as the district's 2012 Hall of Fame inductees.
The three honorees will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during an Oct. 18 luncheon at Bass Pro Shops' White River Conference Center, according to a news release.
The 2012 inductees:
- Charles Armstrong, who has worked 33 years for NASA at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, graduated from Kickapoo High School in 1975. After he received his bachelor's degrees in math and physics from Missouri State University in 1979, Armstrong began working at NASA as an intern. Today, he works a liaison between universities and NASA. He has contributed to several NASA campaigns, including the Space Shuttle, Shuttle-Mir and the International Space Station.
- Betty Cole Dukert, who in 1945 graduated from Springfield Senior High School - now known as Central High School, retired as a producer of NBC's "Meet the Press" in 1998 after 41 years working with the TV program. While attending school in Springfield, Dukert got her start in journalism as a member of the Quill & Scroll club. After a stint working for KICK radio in Springfield, Dukert moved to Washington, D.C., where she took a position as a secretary for NBC.
- Stewart Fulbright, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a college dean, a French teacher and a 1937 graduate of Lincoln High School, is being inducted into the Hall of Fame posthumously. Fulbright, who died in January at age 92, trained in the U.S. Army Air Corps in Tuskegee, Ala., becoming part of a group of black pilots that played significant roles in World War II. After the war, Fulbright dedicated his life to education, becoming the first dean of North Carolina Central University's School of Business. He retired in 1982.
The inaugural class of of the SPS Hall of Fame - inducted in 2010 - comprised Hillcrest High class of 1960 graduate John Ashcroft, U.S. Attorney General for President George W. Bush from 2001-05; Springfield High class of 1947 graduate Walter Jacob, a retired rabbi and leader of several Jewish organizations; and Hillcrest High class of 1972 graduate Larry D. Young, president and CEO for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, according to
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