Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Eastwood Eagle Way Hall of Fame welcomed Janet Metzger Knape, Dennis Mock, and Jan Oberhouse McLaughlin as its newest members on March 7 during a ceremony at Eastwood High School.
Metzger Knape, who is a 1972 Eastwood graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from BGSU in 1978. She spent six years working for Owens-Illinois before moving on to Stahl Associates for three years. During that period, she started her own graphic design and 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.
Since the early 1980s, Metzger Knape 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, which has allowed her to see the Rotary’s work in other communities and countries.
Prior to retiring in 2024, Metzger Knape also spent 12 years as the creative director and publisher of the BG Health Magazine, where she was responsible for content, design, sponsor location, and working with the printers.
In recent years, Metzger Knape was part of a research team for 16 interpretive signs of historical buildings in the downtown Bowling Green area, which earned her an award from Heritage Ohio for Best Historical Placemaking Signs in October 2025.
Additionally, she is a member of 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. On top of that, she finds time for monthly book club meetings with five friends that she met during her time at Eastwood.
Metzger Knape has earned awards for her volunteerism in Wood and Lucas counties — 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.
Mock is a 1969 graduate of Eastwood and earned a bachelor’s degree in education from BGSU in 1973, followed by a master’s degree in administration in 1984. Since then, he served a career in education that has spanned more than four decades.
Initially, Mock began a teaching and coaching career at Holgate Local Schools in 1973, where he coached football, basketball, and baseball while teaching driver’s education before moving on to Bettsville Local Schools in 1979.
While at Bettsville, he taught physical education and coached basketball and baseball before becoming the district’s principal in 1984.
In 1988, Mock became the assistant principal and athletic director at Woodmore Local Schools, where he served until 1990. He was promoted to principal in 1990 before eventually accepting the position of superintendent at Genoa Area Local Schools in 1994. He held that role until retiring in 2015.
Following retirement, Mock continued to serve students and communities across northwest Ohio through multiple interim superintendent positions, including Wellington Local (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.
Oberhouse McLaughlin, a 1980 Eastwood graduate, learned about serving the community at a young age as her mother, Gussie, was the first woman to serve as school principal in the Eastwood district and the first woman mayor of Pemberville. Her father, Don, built one house per year on average.
Oberhouse McLaughlin, who found joy writing stories about her community, was inspired by working at the school newspaper, the Eagles Eye. She credits advisor, Richard Heckman, with instilling the values of journalism she still holds today.
With that inspiration, she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism and photojournalism from BGSU. Since then, she has covered local news in Bowling Green and Wood County for over 40 years, most recently as the editor of the BG Independent News.
Oberhouse McLaughlin also taught journalism at BGSU as an adjunct professor for nearly 30 years, often teaching 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.
During her career, Oberhouse McLaughlin has earned 22 awards from the Associated Press, and she was honored four times as Ohio’s best news writer among similar-sized newspapers. In 2019, she won the Lifetime Achievement Golden Touchstone Award from the Press Club of Toledo, marking 35 years of impactful journalism and dedication to northwest Ohio.
In the community, she was named the 2002 BG Woman of the Year by the chamber of commerce for her extensive service to organizations, which includes the 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.
Along with David Dupont, who is the co-editor of the BG Independent News, Oberhouse McLaughlin earned the “I Love BG” award in 2020 for increasing the city’s visibility and enhancing quality of life for residents through advocacy and leadership.
She has also served as a deacon and trustee at First Presbyterian Church.
