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April 23 will mark the 16th annual Howard County Hall of Legends event, which has honored more than 90 accomplished individuals and organizations since its inception in 2010.
The banquet, a program of the Howard County Historical Society (HCHS), will begin with doors open at 6 p.m. at Hingst Hall on the Ivy Tech Kokomo Campus, 1815 E. Morgan St. Tickets are available through the HCHS website howardcountymuseum.org/programs/hall-of-legends or by calling the office at 765-452-4314. Anyone interested in helping to sponsor the program should also contact the HCHS office.
Members of the 16th Hall of Legends class, chosen by a volunteer committee of community leaders from a wide range of organizations, are:
- Eboni Gatlin Griffin (senior broadcast producer at Good Morning America)
- The late William Simon Harris (a Philippine-American War veteran and Howard County’s only Medal of Honor recipient)
- The late Richard “Dick” Moore (local businessman and community member)
- The late Robert “Bob” Simmons (a professional golf course “Imagineer” involved in the creation of more than 90 golf courses throughout North America and beyond)
- Dr. Melanie Zeck (an accomplished researcher, author and speaker as a reference librarian at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.)
- and Patricia Arnett Zeck (a beloved retired local science teacher who inspired thousands of students over a 45-year career).
Mother and daughter Patricia and Melanie Zeck are only the third set of family members to be inducted into the same class, following brother and sister Bud and Margaret Hillis in 2011 and grandfather and grandson Don Moore and Ben Cotner in 2023. But that’s not where the Hall of Legends family connections end this year.
William Harris has many descendants in the area, including Dr. Chuck Dietzen, a pediatric rehabilitation specialist known worldwide for his humanitarian efforts, who was inducted into the Hall of Legends in 2014. The two young women in this class, Eboni and Melanie, were born here, graduated from Kokomo High School, and are making big contributions elsewhere in the worlds of news and research. The three men - William, Dick and Bob - and Patty Zeck were all born elsewhere and worked and raised their families here in Howard County.
A video tribute to the Class of 2026 will premiere during the April 23 program.
The 2026 honorees join a list of over 90 truly exceptional people and organizations with Howard County connections who have been honored in the first 15 years of this program. Some were born in Howard County and have made their mark here or in the broader world. Some came here and made outstanding contributions in their “adopted” home.
Among those included over the past decade have been America’s first female U.S. Marine, the “Father of Modern Optometry,” the creator of Clifford the Big Red Dog, two pioneers of the automobile industry, one of the world’s leading heart surgeons, a country music superstar and an opera singer, three award-winning journalists, and multiple educators, among others. A complete list of the Legends can be found on the HCHS website howardcountymuseum.org/programs/hall-of-legends