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News
We are proud to announce another great class into our Hall of Fame and look forward to our induction banquet on November 4 at Young’s. Tickets will be $25 each and will be available by contacting the office at Forest Park.
Donald O. Boulanger (Contributor/Educator)
Don Boulanger, affectionately called Mr. B, was born in Manistee, graduating from high school in 1944. He graduated from Central Michigan University with an Education degree in 1949 and received his Master’s degree in Education from the University of Michigan in 1955. Don proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1946-1949, and was honored by being part of the U.P. Inaugural Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. in 2011. His teaching career in the Crystal Falls School District was from 1949-1987, which included Adult Community schools.
Don received many awards and recognitions, all with much humility, which included: mayor ProTem 1975, 1984-1986; City Council for 25 years; served with the Lion’s Club for over 40 years, having received the Lion’s Club highest award, the “Melvin Jones Fellowship Award” for commitment to humanitarian work (2005) and Crystal Falls Citizen of the Year in 2012. He served the community on many diverse committees: City Planning Board (2001), Chairman of the Prison Site selection committee, hospital board, theater board, committees in the Methodist Church-Finance, Endowment Chair and choir member.
Don had a passion for teaching, writing and living. In addition to teaching industrial arts, welding, driver’s education, and golfing (of which he was a club member/president), he was class advisor to many students; he loved to hunt- his hunting career spanned five decades and accounted for 105 successful deer patches (from 1972-2018). Preserving history was also a lesson that he taught by refurbishing the old statues, reliefs and plaques in the school. This included researching and typing descriptions of approximately 20 busts on pedestals in the hallways around the school and remaking the plaster head of the Abe Lincoln statue. Every spoken word was a learning lesson.
He started writing at age 65 and has written and published seven books, the first “Mr. B’s Good Life” was about his family history. The others were a recap of history through limericks and reality, always with wit and personality. This tribute is an honor to Don’s legacy. Don died Nov. 7, 2018.
Richard “Dick” Mettlach (Coach)
Dick Mettlach has a long history with the Crystal Falls community and the Crystal Falls Forest Park Athletic Program, both as a teacher at Forest Park for 33 years, and also as a football coach for CF-FP for 35 years.
During his tenure, he had great success and led the team to 12 Conference Championships, 10 U.P. Team of the Year titles, sixState Title games, and two State Championship titles during the years 1975 and 1976. His career record with the Trojans was 239-73-6, making him CF-FP’s most winningest football coach of all time.
The coaching success Dick Mettlach had at CF-FP has also made him one of the most decorated football coaches in Michigan State History. He has been previously inducted into the U.P. Hall of Fame (1982), the MHSAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame (1985), and the University of LaCrosse Hall of Fame (1986).
He has also had the privilege of winning several prestigious awards including the 1976 Kellogg’s Coach of the Year, 1977 University of Wisconsin LaCrosse Alumnus Coach of the Year, 1986 Kodak Coach of the Year, along with being named a four- time U.P. Coach and two-time State of Michigan Coach of the Year.
Dick also coached the high school baseball program, middle school basketball teams, and high school golf teams at CF-FP, winning the U.P. All Class Golf Championship in 1967. His 1965 Football Team has the distinction of being the smallest school ever to win the Upper Peninsula Championship and Barber Trophy All Classes. Dick personally won the Crystal Falls Men’s Golf Championship 21 times. His contributions to CF-FP athletics over the years also earned him the honor of having the Crystal Falls Forest Park Athletic Field dedicated to his name in 2000.
Barbara (Meyer) Trevarton (Distinguished Alumni)
Barbara was a 1946 graduate from Crystal Falls. While attending school she was an avid sports fan, taking great pride in watching basketball games during the Eddie Chambers era.
She was also active in music, taking lessons for both the violin and piano.
During an era where the expectation of women was wife and mother, Barbara had additional aspirations in life and attended college at Evanston Hospital School of Nursing, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She excelled through a 36 month program and graduated in 1949.
Upon returning to Crystal Falls, she worked as a nurse at the Stambaugh hospital and met her husband Kenneth Trevarton, distinguished WWII Air Force Veteran. Barbara and Kenneth relocated to Dodge City, Kansas in 1957. Tragically, Barbara was widowed at the age of 40 when her husband suddenly passed away leaving her to raise their two daughters. With determination and resolve, she remained a working mother.
After moving to Troy, she started a new career. Once again, against the grain of expectations for women, she furthered her education at the University of Michigan and earned a degree in Vocational Education. She used this degree, along with her extensive nursing experience, to personally develop a Vocational Education/Health Occupation program for high school students. After students completed training with her, she would place them as Nursing Assistants within the community.
A testament to the lives she impacted, many students stayed in touch with her, sharing stories of their often impressive medical careers. Along with her lifelong church involvement and community service, Barbara never stopped cheering on “her Trojans,” having followed them to the Pontiac Silverdome, Ford Field, and Superior Dome.