Honorees include Janet Metzger Knape, Dennis Mock and Jan Oberhouse McLaughlin
From EASTWOOD ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Three Eastwood alumni are the newest class of the Eastwood Eagle Way Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees include Janet Metzger Knape, Dennis Mock and Jan Oberhouse McLaughlin.
The celebration honoring the new inductees will be March 7 at Eastwood High School, 4900 Sugar Ridge Road, Pemberville.
The doors for the event open at 6 p.m. and the presentation of inductees will begin at 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided.
Cost to attend the event is $15 per person; children under five years old are free. For tickets, send a check made out to the Eastwood Alumni Association and mail to Marcia Cousino, PO Box 397 Pemberville, OH 43450. Be sure to include the number of people attending and a phone number.
Another option for payment is via Paypal by scanning the QR code (see image).
Information about this year’s honorees follows:
Janet Metzger Knape
Janet Metzger Knape, a 1972 Eastwood graduate, was born to Paul and Eleanor Metzger in 1953 and grew up on Dowling Road, Luckey, with her sisters Barbara and Nancy.
Knape graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from Bowling Green State University in 1978.
After working at Owens-Illinois for six years and then at Stahl Associates for three years, she started her own graphic design/marketing firm, Knape Designs, in 1982, when her daughter, Ashley, was born.
Her work included developing brands, comprehensive writing, designing brochures, annual reports, catalogs, logos, and billboards. She also created videos and trade show exhibits for national shows for her clients, which included manufacturers, social service agencies, educational and governmental institutions, economic development and travel organizations, and entrepreneurs.
For 12 years, she was the creative director and publisher of BG Health Magazine, which she calls one of her most fulfilling projects. She was responsible for content, design, finding sponsors and working with printers.
Knape retired in 2024.
Recently, she was part of the research team for 16 interpretive signs of historical buildings in the downtown Bowling Green area, which earned an award from Heritage Ohio for Best Historical Placemaking Signs in October 2025.
Since the early 1980s, she has been involved in community service through Rotary International, drug addiction and mental health boards, community organization boards, and the United Way of Greater Toledo Board.
She was inducted into the Bowling Green Rotary Club in 1991 and remains an active member. She served as club president and has been involved in fundraising and as a goodwill ambassador to see Rotary’s work in other communities and countries.
She recently joined the Valentine Theatre Board and has been a longtime member of the Shakespeare Round Table and several of the specialty groups with University Women of BGSU. She also said the monthly book club meetings with five of her Eastwood High School friends is a favorite activity.
Knape earned awards for her volunteerism in Wood and Lucas counties. She received the YMCA Milestones Honor for Volunteerism, the Athena Award from the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce, and the J.C. Penney Volunteerism Golden Rule Award.
Knape enjoys visiting Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to visit her daughters, Ashley and Alexandra, their husbands, and her grandsons, Madden, Milo, Theo, River and Teller.
Dennis Mock
Dennis Mock, a 1969 Eastwood graduate, was born to Jake and Alice (Jacobs) Mock, in Fremont in 1951.
Along with his lifelong friends, Mock proudly counted himself as “one of the Luckey boys,” a bond that remained important throughout his life.
He earned his Bachelor of Education degree from Bowling Green State University in 1973, followed by a Master of Education in administration from BGSU in 1984. These degrees laid the foundation for a distinguished career in education that spanned more than four decades.
On June 29, 1979, Dennis married Tracy (Konesky). They have two children, Ryan (Alissa) Mock and Emily (Kyle) Furderer, and four grandchildren, Isla and Adelyn Mock, and Palmer and Tucker Furderer.
Mock began his teaching and coaching career at Holgate Local Schools from 1973 to 1979, where he coached football, basketball, and baseball, and taught driver’s education.
He then taught physical education and coached basketball and baseball at Bettsville Local Schools from 1979 to 1983 before becoming principal in the Bettsville Local School District in 1984.
In 1988, he accepted the position of assistant principal and athletic director at Woodmore Local Schools, serving until 1990. He was promoted to principal at Woodmore from 1990 to 1994, and in 1994, he accepted the superintendency at Genoa Area Local Schools, a role he held with distinction until his retirement in 2015.
Following retirement, Mock continued to serve students and communities across northwest Ohio through multiple interim superintendent positions, including WellingtonLocal (one year), Margaretta Local (four years), Gibsonburg Exempted Village (two years), Genoa Area (two years), and most recently, Woodmore Local Schools.
Mock is widely respected throughout northwest Ohio for his strong leadership, steady guidance, and exceptional ability to build positive relationships with staff, students, families, and the communities he served. He has facilitated new school buildings and athletic enhancement projects in the districts he served. His career reflects a lifelong commitment to education, service, and the belief that schools thrive when students come first.
Jan Oberhouse McLaughlin
Jan Oberhouse McLaughlin grew up in Pemberville in a home where hard work and honesty were the most respected qualities one could have. Work was seen as a source of joy – not drudgery. Her mom, Gussie Oberhouse, was the first woman school principal in the Eastwood district and first woman mayor of Pemberville. Her dad, Don Oberhouse, was a builder who averaged one house a year since he believed in building the best quality home possible.
McLaughlin and her brother, Tom, grew up loved and motivated to do good. Tom found his joy planting trees and starting North Branch Nursery. McLaughlin found her joy writing stories about her community.
But the greatest joy for McLaughlin – far beyond writing a great story – is her husband, Frank, and their blended family of Anna and Hunter, Allie and Grant, Tom and Raquel, and Annie – spread out from Rhode Island to Kansas City to California.
McLaughlin graduated from Eastwood High School in 1980, after being inspired by working on the school newspaper, the Eagles Eye. The newspaper adviser, Richard Heckman, instilled the values of journalism that she still holds today.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and photojournalism from Bowling Green State University.
Since then, McLaughlin has been covering local news in Bowling Green and Wood County for over 40 years, most recently as editor for the BG Independent News. Her reporting includes everything from city councils and county commissioners to school boards and the people affected by their decisions. Her stories often give voice to those otherwise unheard.
She also taught journalism at BGSU as an adjunct professor for nearly 30 years. She often taught the capstone class, where she worked to show students that journalists wield a great deal of power that must be used wisely and that good local journalists are public servants.
McLaughlin works hard to be a journalist who readers and sources can trust. During her career, she has received the following recognitions:
• Earned 22 Associated Press awards spanning news writing, features, breaking news, headline writing, page design, and community service reporting; honored four times as Ohio’s best news writer among similar-sized newspapers.
• Renowned for in-depth, compassionate reporting on people with developmental disabilities, mental health, and public health issues, bringing attention and understanding to important community topics. Her work has illuminated critical challenges while celebrating resilience and hope in the community.
• Winner of the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Golden Touchstone Award from the Press Club of Toledo, marking 35 years of impactful journalism and dedication to northwest Ohio.
McLaughlin also. has been recognized for work outside of journalism. She was named 2002 BG Woman of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce for her extensive service to organizations, including Court Appointed Special Advocates, Wood County Historical Society, American Cancer Society, Wood Lane Human Rights Committee, Kenwood PTO, and the Wood County Family Literacy Board.
She and BG Independent News’ co-editor David Dupont received the 2020 “I Love BG” Award, recognized for increasing the city’s visibility and enhancing quality of life for residents through advocacy and leadership.
McLaughlin is a member of First Presbyterian Church, where she has served as deacon and trustee. She is also a member of the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club and the Bowling Green Community Foundation.
