Alliance Historical Society honors Joe Zelasko after 52 years on board

Alliance Historical Society marked its Founders’ Day by paying tribute to a man who spent more time on its board than anyone in its history.

A small group gathered June 29 inside Haggart Hall at the Alliance YWCA – the site of the first meeting of the Alliance Historical Society that date in 1939 – to pay homage to Joe Zelasko.

Zelasko, a retired teacher who spent 44 years in the Alliance City School District, has been a member of the board for 52 of the Society’s 84 years, serving since April 1971.

“I have enjoyed every minute of my time on the board,” said Zelasko, who recently turned 90. “Unfortunately, there comes a time when you can’t do all of the things you want to do, and I feel it’s time to step down.”

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Zelasko, who still spends many hours reading about history, was bestowed with emeritus status and was presented with a clock by Alliance Historical Society President Karen Perone.

“This is an important day for the Alliance Historical Society, and we are proud to honor Joe Zelasko on this special day for his many years of service,” said Perone, who put into perspective the longevity of his service to the Society.

Perone noted three current board members – Stacy Digianantonio, Jack Weber and Jack Madison, a recipient of a scholarship given in honor of Zelasko – weren’t even born when Zelasko first took a seat on the board. Perone herself was in seventh grade when Zelasko joined.

Three of Zelasko’s former students – Jennifer Crist, Don Shaffer and Steve Stone – are also current board members.

Alliance Mayor Alan Andreani, another former student, was on hand at the Founders’ Day event to issue a mayoral proclamation, likely the last he will decree as he is stepping down at the end of July.

“Scores of people have been positively influenced by Mr. Zelasko,” said Andreani prior to reading the proclamation that outlined the many accomplishments and accolades that Zelasko achieved over the years. “And I am one of them.”

Andreani was a junior in 1966 when he had Zelasko as a chemistry teacher on the fourth floor of the old Alliance High School. Most recall Zelasko serving as a U.S. history teacher who annually showed his enthusiasm for Abraham Lincoln.

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Zelasko explained that following Sputnik in 1957, there was a push to teach more science across the United States. Zelasko had a minor in chemistry and was asked to take a few more courses to gain enough credits to be qualified to teach chemistry and bolster the faculty in that area of study as there was only one chemistry teacher in the district at the time. Zelasko said that he taught chemistry for about seven years before returning to U.S. history.

Zelasko was as adept in chemistry as he was in history, according to Andreani.

“The impact that I had from having Mr. Zelasko as a chemistry teacher was so great that I majored in chemistry in college,” said Andreani. “Our paths crossed many times after that, and I can tell you that he is well regarded by everyone and everywhere in this town.”

In declaring June 29, 2023, as Joe Zelasko Day, Andreani noted many of Zelasko’s accolades, including being named Teacher of the Year twice in addition to a special recognition given to him by the Class of 1975. He also served as advisor to both the National Honor Society and Future Teachers of America, and as president of the Alliance Education Association as well as chair of the Ohio Education Association State Committee on Human Relations.

In terms of his service to historical groups around the Carnation City, Zelasko was also a member of the board of trustees for the Castle Crusaders and gave many tours of Glamorgan Castle as well as serving as a docent at the Mabel Hartzell Historical Home on behalf of the Alliance Historical Society. In addition, he conducted many interviews as part of an oral history project for the society, which can be accessed at www.alliancememory.org or at Rodman Public Library.

Zelasko served as co-chair of the 1976 Alliance Bicentennial Committee with N. Yost Osborne, a librarian at Mount Union who also happened to be the person who asked Zelasko to join the Alliance Historical Society Board.

For his efforts, Zelasko received the Mayor’s Award in 1976, and in 1977 was honored with the Chamber of Commerce Carnation Ambassador Award.

Later, he was named Citizen of the Year in 2001, the year after he retired from teaching.

In between, he was involved in several civic endeavors, such as the board of trustees of the Alliance High School Alumni Foundation and the Foundation’s Distinguished Alumni Committee, just to name a couple.

“Everything I have been able to do is because of this lady,” said Zelasko, acknowledging his wife, Carol Speidel Zelasko. “Many thanks go to her.”

Zelasko, who was born in Chicago on March 4, 1933, came to Alliance in 1949, when the Armour Company transferred his father to its then-new facility at the site of the former Taylorcraft airplane plant.

Luckily for the people of Alliance and hundreds of former students, he never left.

Zelasko graduated from Alliance High School in 1951, and went on to Mount Union, where he met his wife and several others who were influential in his life.

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Building teaching career from years of learning from the best

“I had a lot of great teachers at Mount Union,” said Zelasko, noting that Neil Schrader, a professor of German, and John Saffell, a professor of history, were two of the best.

“Schrader was one of the most interesting people I ever met,” said Zelasko. “He was very German, and had served as a navigator aboard a B-17 during World War II. He would talk about how difficult it was to sit in that plane that was dropping bombs over Germany. He gave me a lot of advice.”

As for Saffell, he was Zelasko’s all-time favorite teacher as well as his favorite subject that he ever interviewed as part of the oral history project.

“After I had been teaching for a while, Saffell came to observe a few of my classes,” said Zelasko. “At the time, there was this attitude that our education system was failing, that our system of teaching was not good. He wrote me a letter when it was all done, and it hangs on my wall. The last line says, ‘Well, Joe, maybe we did some good after all.’ Coming from John Saffell, it meant the world to me.”

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Alliance Historical Society honors Joe Zelasko after 52 years on board