Historical society names ‘Citizens of Honor’
SALEM
During the 2006 Salem Bicentennial, 24 individuals were singled out for recognition as “Citizens of Honor.” Since then two area residents have been added to the list of honorees each year during annual Founders’ Day activities.
Nominated as the 2011 Citizens of Honor are Holland W. Cameron and Mary Dunlap Patterson, who will be officially inducted during this year’s Founders’ Day dinner on Tuesday at Salem Community Center on North Ellsworth Avenue.
Cameron, who has been recognized as a pioneering leader in the field of technical engineering in Ohio, headed the Salem Trades Extension Program for almost four decades and later was director of Salem School of Technology.
After graduation from Salem High School and the College of Wooster, he had jobs detailing steel at two factories before beginning his teaching career in Mahoning County. He was employed as a design engineer at Electric Furnace in Salem until 1935, when he left to devote his time to supervising the adult education program in Salem. In 1960 he assumed additional responsibilities at Salem School of Technology.
In 1965 he was named an Outstanding Alumnus of Salem High School, and he was once referred to as “Mr. Technical Education of Ohio.” He played a major role in the industrial life of Salem and the technical background for the current Salem Campus of Kent State University. He was a member of Salem Rotary and Wilbur Friends Meeting House.
Cameron married Clara Patten in 1932 and they had four daughters. He died July 25, 1966.
Patterson graduated from Salem High School in 1953 and obtained a degree in medical technology in 1957 from Mount Union College. She worked as a medical technologist at Alliance City Hospital and then at Salem Hospital. In 1982 she moved to Detroit, where she helped to manage four clinical laboratory sites for an HMO until 1986.
Patterson returned to Salem and took a job developing clinical laboratories in long-term skilled nursing homes, where she helped develop the facilities and was clinical director of services for more than 14 years prior to her retirement.
Patterson was a charter member of Salem YWCA from 1955 until the facility dissolved in 2010. She was named the YWCA “Woman of the Year” in 1995.
She served as chairwoman on the board of Mental Health and Recovery Services and on the board of Columbiana County Counseling Center, and a complex on the Apple Grove campus in Lisbon was named in her honor. She was a member of Salem League of Women Voters and had many professional group affiliations in medical technology.
She was active with the Business and Professional Women’s Association in Salem until 1998 and is now active with the Columbiana Area Business and Professional Women, serving in state and national offices. She is married to John Patterson and they have two children and two grandchildren.
Featured at the Founders’ Day dinner will be a basket auction and a presentation by Cathy Nelson of Ohio Humanities Council, whose theme will be “Remember the Ladies – The Fight for Women’s Equality.”
Reservations for the dinner will be accepted until Friday at 330-337-8514.