WEST ALEXANDRIA — The Twin Valley Community Local School District honored six members of its community for their service, academic or athletic accomplishments during a recent high school basketball game.
Darlene Degler Combs and Rodney Rehmert were presented service awards.
Dr. John Herald and Dr. Jessica McMurray Brissey were honored for their academic achievements, while Ann Leedy Hall and Chad Vorhis was recognized for their athletic accomplishments.
Combs is a 1955 graduate of Lanier High School and has been very active in the West Alexandria community. After high school, Combs went onto Miami Jacobs Business College, graduating in 1956.
She was a high school secretary for Twin Valley Schools for 23 years.
Combs is a member of St John Lutheran Church and has served the church as a volunteer financial secretary for 28 years, preparing meals for the homeless shelter, and participating in regular visits to those who cannot get out and about.
In addition, she has been a volunteer for 20 years with Special Olympics and a member of the Preble County Special Olympics Committee.
She helped establish the West Alexandria Foodbank in 1983 and has been a volunteer ever since. She has served 26 years as the treasurer and seven years as the director
She and her husband Bob have been married for 57 years and have three children and six grandchildren.
Rehmert is a 1979 graduate of Twin Valley South High School.
He was a multiple sport letterman in football, basketball and baseball. He received all-league honors his freshman, sophomore and senior years and all-county honors his freshman, junior and senior years.
After high school he continued his baseball career, playing with teams from Middletown and Springfield. His team from Springfield went to the Connie Mack World Series.
In 1981, Rehmert was drafted by the Montreal Expos. He went to spring training and was assigned to play with Montreal’s AA team in Jamestown, New York. He finished his baseball career with the Expos single A team in Calgary late in the summer of 1982.
Rehmert was the TVS head baseball coach for two seasons and was also a volunteer coach for several years under Jeff Akers and Frank Wright.
He has been a very active in the past with the TVS Athletic Association.
He was instrumental in improvements at the football field — the building of the concession stand, sprinkler system, and the track upgrade.
For over 10 years, Rehmert took care of the football, baseball and softball fields at the school.
Rehmert was the West Alexandria Baseball Organization’s field manager from 1990 to 2002 and coached two select baseball teams for over 10 years.
He has been an employee for the village of West Alexandria for 17 years. He has two sons, Kyle and Wesley and three grandchildren.
Herald is a 1969 Twin Valley South graduate.
While in high school, he had superior ratings in the state science fair his sophomore, junior and senior years. His sophomore year he was a delegate to the National Youth Conference on the Atom and as a junior he attended the National Science Fair USMA at West Point and as a senior, he was selected as one of two students from the state of Ohio to attend National Youth Science Camp.
Herald went on to earn a BS in Biology from Heidelberg College. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry in 1977.
Dr. Herald practiced dentistry in Strongsville, Ohio until 2014.
In the 1990s he shifted his focus to sleep disorders and chronic pain syndromes and became a member of the Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and was one of the founders of the Academy of Sleep Disordered Disciplines.
In 2010, he designed and developed an oral device for the treatment of snoring and sleep apnea. It received FDA approval in 2011.
He is now a consultant and is currently the principle researcher on a device that screens for sleep disordered breathing to be used by general dentistry.
Herald now lives in Lewisburg, West Virginia with his wife of 42 years, Lynne. They have two daughters, Jessy and Kaitlin.
Dr. Jessica McMurray Brissey is a 2004 Twin Valley South graduate.
Brissey was a member of the National Honor Society while in school.
She was part of the band’s color guard and concert band. While at TVS, she was awarded the President’s Award for Educational Excellence, the Ohio State Board of Education Award of Merit and Charles D. Murray Memorial Scholarship Award.
She earned a total of 18 varsity letters in soccer, cross country, basketball, softball and track.
In soccer, she was first team Cross County Conference, first team All-District and second team All-Miami Valley.
In cross country, she was first team Cross County Conference. In basketball, she was honorable mention in the league. In track she was conference champion in the 3,200 meter run and in softball she was first team Cross County Conference.
She went on to the University of Findlay where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Pre-Veterinary medicine and Biology. While attending the University of Findlay, Dr. Brissey was a member of the equestrian team and the women’s club basketball team.
After graduating from Findlay, she was accepted into the prestigious Veterinary School of Medicine at The Ohio State University where she earned her doctorate degree.
Currently, she is practicing veterinary medicine in Ohio and in Indiana. She’s also the official Veterinarian for the Preble County Fair. She is married to her middle school sweetheart, Paul, and they have three daughters.
Hall is a 1996 graduate of TVS.
She was a member of the National Honor Society, Preble County Honors Scholar and won the Presidential award for Educational Excellence.
She earned 10 letters in volleyball, basketball and track.
In basketball, Hall was All-Southwest Ohio District 15.
In track, she was a four-year letter winner earning many team awards including most valuable field award and most points earned. As a senior she placed third in the high jump, fifth in the 4×100 and sixth in the 4×200 at the regional track meet. Her third place high jump finish earned her a trip to the state track meet. She was also named Academic All-Ohio her senior year.
In volleyball, she was a three-year varsity letter winner. Hall was Special Mention District 15 and All-Cross County Conference her junior year. In her senior year, she was All-Cross County Conference, first team District 15, All-Ohio Honorable Mention and earned Academic All-Star Award from District 15.
She went on to Appalachian State University on a Division I volleyball scholarship. While at Appalachian State she was a four-year letter winner, a scholar athlete and was on the dean’s list. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English Education.
After college, she was a high school volleyball coach in North Carolina. Her team was state runner-up in 2001. She was named Southern Foothills Conference Coach of the Year in 2001. She was also an assistant volleyball coach at Division I Davidson College.
Hall has returned to Ohio and is teaching English at the Miami Valley Career Technology Center. She is also coaching with the Preble County Volleyball Club. She has one daughter, Jenna.
Vorhis is a 1997 graduate of Twin Valley South and a four-year letter-winner in basketball.
He was first team All-Cross County Conference three times. He was runner-up to teammate Ryan Miller for CCC Player of the Year as a junior.
Vorhis was All-District 15 Underclassmen his junior year and he was All-District 15 as a senior.
He was Second Team All-Ohio as a junior and was Special Mention as a senior, a season in which he missed 10 games due to a car accident.
Vorhis is the second leading scorer in TVS history, with 1,380 points. He scored the most points for a TVS junior with 491. He tops the TVS career leader in steals with 197 and is second in career assists with 409 and second in three point field goals with 149.
He is the only player in TVS history to have a 50-40-80 season where he shot 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from the 3-point line and 80 percent from the free throw line, which he did in his junior year.
Vorhis walked on to the University of Dayton basketball team during the 1997-98 season — the team’s overall record was 21-12 and they played in the NCAA National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
He finished his basketball career and education at Mount Vernon Nazarene College. He was able to end his career on a victory as they were crowned the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Champions.
Vorhis has been employed by the United States Air Force for 14 years and works at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
He and his wife, Stephanie, have been married for 15 years and have four kids, Jaden, Gracen, Rosemary and Lilly.
