CLEVELAND, Ohio - Six Northeast Ohioans were among the 20 former military service members inducted November 9 to the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
The veterans were chosen from 103 nominations, according to a news release.
The Veterans Hall of Fame was established in 1992 to recognize the post-military achievements of Ohio veterans, and is administered by the Ohio Department of Veterans Affairs.
Recipients of the award are honored in a permanent display in the Ohio Statehouse at the Riffe Center, 77 South High Street, in Columbus.
The Northeast Ohio honorees are:
* Richard DeChant, Jr., 61, of Fairview Park, served in the U.S. Coast Guard including tours in the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
DeChant currently is executive director of the Veterans' Initiative for Cuyahoga Community College.
He was chair of a White House Council on Strong Cities/Strong Communities seeking best practices in developing a seamless transition for veterans looking for employment, and employers looking for veterans.
During his tenure with the TSA Operations for Northeast Ohio, he received both the Department Homeland Security Heroism Award and the Cleveland Police Department 2006 Citizen Heroism Award for helping to subdue an armed gunman at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.
He is the co-chair of the Northeast Ohio Veterans Community Task Force, focusing on leveraging VA resources. He also is active in the Greater Cleveland Fisher House, the Ohio Values Veterans Military Committee and Hospice of the Western Reserve among many other organizations.
He co-authored Ohio House Bill 488, which requires all state colleges to establish veteran service offices and review military training for college credit. He also helped create national legislation that established the first standard Military Training Transcript for use by colleges through the 2012 Defense Re-Authorization Act.
* John A. Evans, Sr., 81, of Cleveland, a Vietnam veteran, served in the U.S. Air Force and Army.
He is a life member of the American Legion, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans and the VFW.
His unfavorable welcome home from Vietnam prompted Evans to make sure he would do whatever he could to support all veterans.
In 1992, after retiring from a 16-year career with the Federal Aviation Administration, he began volunteering at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and is presently serving as the American Legion VA Voluntary Services Deputy-Representative.
In 2016, Evans received the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center Volunteer of the Year/You Make a Difference Award and the VA Voluntary Services Superior Service Award for 17,500 volunteer hours.
* Brook Harless, 41, of North Canton, served in the U.S. Army from 1997-1999, then graduated from Central Texas College. She also is a graduate of Stark County Government Leadership Academy, Grassroots Leadership Academy and the Stark County Citizen Police Academy.
Currently she is a participant of the Leadership Stark County Signature Program, and has worked a for Concerned Veterans for America and the Serving Area Military Center.
Harless is a Post Legion 44 delegate and adjutant, an American Red Cross caseworker for Services to Armed Forces, an Ohio Veteran Coalition co-chair, a member of the Stark County Veterans Task Force and co-chair of the Stark County Veteran Stand Down.
Her volunteer work includes the American Red Cross, Rebuild North East Ohio, Americans for Prosperity, North Canton Chamber of Commerce, Plain Township Historical Society, Rotary Club of Plain Township and the Women's Inter Business Network.
* Holly Koester, 57, of Walton Hills, served in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 1991 until she was injured.
A 2006 graduate of Cleveland State University, Holly is a substitute teacher for grades K-8.
In 1996, she started racing in marathons, and is the first person to complete a marathon in all 50 states in a wheelchair.
Koester competed in the 2016 National Veterans Wheelchair Games, and won six gold medals. She attended her first National Veteran Wheelchair Games in 1991 and has participated every year since as an athlete and mentor.
She is sports director and secretary for the Buckeye Chapter Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA). In 2017, the National PVA honored Holly with the Speedy Award, the highest honor that the group bestows.
Koester is involved in local organizations including the Heritage Congregational Church and Berea Millstream Quilters -- making children's charity quilts and veterans' valor quilts.
She is also a peer counselor for newly injured spinal cord veterans at the Cleveland VA Medical Center, and a motivational speaker.
* Frona A. Liston, 92, of North Canton, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Liston has held a variety of jobs in the medical and clerical fields but most of her life has been dedicated to service to others.
She is a life member of WAVES National, now known as Military Women Across the Nation, and also is a life member of Northeast Ohio Women Veterans Unit 21.
Liston has worked with the Minerva school system and the village librarian to coordinate an adult literacy program in Minerva.
She has mentored young adults in her equestrian association leadership, and is also adult literacy tutor with the Sebring Area Literacy Council, a volunteer at the North Canton Heritage Society, and has tutored children and adults ELS English as a Second Language.
* David W. Taylor, 71, of Medina, served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
He is a life member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Special Forces Association Northeast Ohio Chapter, VFW, Disabled American Veterans and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 385.
Taylor has received the 2013 America Infantry Division Veterans Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2016 Medina County Ohio Joint Veterans Coalition Veteran of the Year Award.
Under his leadership, Medina's annual Memorial Day Parade has become the community's largest parade.
He is also a founding member of the Joint Veterans Coalition of Medina County, and spearheaded the Medina County Veterans Memorial Hall of Fame's modernization capital campaign, raising $500,000 to renovate the 60-year-old facility.
The author of "Our War: The History and Sacrifices of an Infantry Battalion in the Vietnam War," delivers frequent presentations so that medical and mental health professionals understand the conditions and experiences faced by Vietnam veterans.