Five selected for Clinton School District's 2023 Hall of Honor

Nov. 17—CLINTON — Philip Klinkner, Ann Magnussen, Ginny Mann, Allen Paulson, and Neil Steinhagen have been chosen for induction into the 2023 Clinton High School Hall of Honor.

The Clinton School District and the Clinton High School Hall of Honor Committee announced the slate of honorees Thursday.

Dennis Duerling, chairman of the Hall of Honor Committee, said the fourth Hall of Honor class "continues to show the depth of Clinton High School Alumni that have gone on to make major differences in their careers and those around them."

They cover five of the different areas of recognition of the CHS Hall of Honor: a graduate who has contributed to the national political dialogue, a nurse whose contributions led to a national award in her name, a school district employee who has dedicated her entire career to serving students at Clinton High School, a businessman who took aviation to a new level, and a graduate who has excelled serving this country in the Navy.

—Philip Klinkner, CHS Class of 1981. Klinkner was nominated for Accomplishments in Academic Fields. Klinkner is a political scientist, blogger, and author involved in American politics. He serves as the James S. Sherman Professor of Government at Hamilton College.

Klinkner is an expert on American politics, including parties and elections, race relations, Congress, and the presidency. He is the former director of the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center. Klinkner has written extensively on a variety of topics related to American politics. His books include The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 1956-1993 and Midterm: The 1994 Elections in Perspect (with Rogers Smith). For his book, The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America, he received the 2000 Horace Mann Bond Book Award from Harvard University's Afro-American Studies Department and W.E.B DuBois Institute. He earned his doctorate from Yale University.

In 2003, Klinkner founded PolySigh, a blog featuring commentary from a group of political professors. PolySigh was part of the first generation of academic blogs that covered political science subfields. He has also blogged at the Huffington Post and the Monkey Cage.

—Ann Magnussen, CHS Class of 1916. Magnussen was nominated in the category of Humanitarian Endeavors. After graduating from Clinton High School, Magnussen earned a nursing diploma from the LaCrosse Hospital School of Nursing and a baccalaureate degree in nursing from the University of Minnesota. In 1930, Magnussen's Red Cross Career began when she became a public health nurse for the Plymouth County, Iowa, chapter.

In 1939, she served as a Red Cross field representative in the Midwestern-area office in St. Louis and was quickly promoted to the assistant director in 1940. She served in St. Louis until 1943 and then transferred to the southeastern area office in Atlanta to serve as the director of disaster nursing. In 1947, she moved to the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she served as the director of disaster nursing and nurse enrollment. The next year she was named deputy director of Red Cross nursing services and, two years later, was appointed director.

On May 8, 1963, Magnussen was one of three American women to receive the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international Red Cross Nursing honor. The medal is awarded "for distinguished and devoted service to the sick and wounded in time of peace and war." One year later, in 1964, Magnussen retired from the Red Cross.

Today, the Ann Magnussen Award recognizes the leadership and contributions of the nurse behind the award and demonstrates the American Red Cross' respect and recognition of today's nurse leaders who continue working to strengthen and improve Red Cross programs and services.

—Ginny Mann, CHS Class of 1964. Mann was nominated in the area of Exceptional Contributions to the Clinton School District. Mann graduated in May 1964 and was hired as a secretary in July 1964. She has been employed by the school district over the past 58 years. The majority of that time Mann served as the CHS registrar, who has the responsibility of maintaining accurate school records of every student that was served by Clinton High School.

Mann witnessed the CHS fire in 1968, when the building was significantly rebuilt after that devastating event, and will now be part of the opening of Phase 1 of the new Clinton High School in January 2023. Because of her position at Clinton High School, Mann has connected, in some way, with every single student served in the past 58 years.

—Allen Paulson. Paulson was nominated in the area of Professional Career Achievements. Born in Clinton, Allen E. Paulson was on his own at age 13, supporting himself selling newspapers and doing janitorial work at a local hotel until he moved to California in 1937.

After World War II, he went to TWA as a flight engineer and used the GI Bill to get his pilot's license. He then began flying commercially for TWA. He left TWA to form his own company in 1951, buying surplus Wright R-3350 engines from Boeing B-29s and selling the parts to airlines. In 1955, he purchased his first aircraft for resale, stripping the aircraft for parts, scrapping the rest, and later rebuilding one aircraft for resale out of the parts of several. His company, the California Airmotive Corp., became one of the largest dealers in second-hand aircraft in the world.

In November 1970, he and his friend Clay Lacy entered an ex-American Airlines Douglas DC-7BF (N759Z msn 45233) in the California 1000 Mile Air Race at Mojave. Named "Super Snoopy", the airplane finished in a commendable sixth place in a field of 20. In 1970, Paulson began to develop the American Jet Hustler, a corporate aircraft that featured a propeller in front for short runway use, and a jet in back for high-altitude cruising.

In 1982, he bought Rockwell International's aviation division in Oklahoma and combined it with Gulfstream American to form Gulfstream Aerospace. Paulson transformed the company into the world's largest manufacturer of private jets. Sales increased to $1 billion yearly. In June 1985, he sold the company to Chrysler for $637 million.

He was awarded the Clarence E. Page Memorial Trophy from the Oklahoma Air and Space Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1990, Paulson and a Gulfstream flight crew set 35 international records for around-the-world flights in a Gulfstream IV aircraft. In 1987, he won the Harmon Trophy as the world's outstanding aviator, and in 1992, was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. Paulson died in 2000.

—Neil Steinhagen, CHS Class of 1992. Steinhagen was nominated in the area of Distinguished Military Service. After graduating from CHS, Steinhagen enlisted in the Navy. He graduated from the Nuclear Enlisted Commissioning Program in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Steinhagen also has earned a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. His assignments began in 2000, aboard the USS Seawolf and in 2003, he transferred to the USS Jimmy Carter. As a department head, Steinhagen served as operations officer aboard the USS Toledo followed by his executive officer tour aboard the USS Alexandria. Steinhagen then commanded the USS Illinois and has been deployed in submarine operations in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and the western Pacific. His personal awards include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal.

The mission of the Clinton High School Alumni Hall of Honor is to recognize those who attended Clinton High School and have distinguished themselves in their careers, communities and personal lives. These individuals are held up to Clinton students as examples of citizenship and success.

The induction of the 2023 Hall of Honor Class will be in conjunction with the Academic Awards ceremony scheduled for April 21, 2023.