For his efforts, he has been chosen as the Distinguished German-American of the Year for 2002 by the United German-American Committee of the USA Inc. in Washington, D.C.

Tolzmann

        The award is given to a German-American who has made exceptional contributions to the German-American community and who has fostered German-American relations here and abroad.

        “This is a great honor,” Mr. Tolzmann said. “It comes as a result of being involved in supporting German heritage.”

        Known as the “Father of German-American Day,” he is the curator of the German-Americana Collection at UC, where he has also led the movement to create a national and international awareness of the important role played by German-Americans to the American way of life.

        Mr. Tolzmann, of Mack, is president of the German American Citizens League and has often spoken out publicly when German markers and monuments around the city have been defaced.

        He protested to park board officials last year when a 150-pound German heritage historic marker was stolen from Fairview Park in Fairview.

        He then questioned whether someone had targeted German markers. The marker in Fairview Park lists the Cincinnati streets with German names that were changed to American names on April 9, 1918.

        The marker mysteriously reappeared in the park six months later.

        “It is important that we preserve the heritage of all ethnic groups. I hope this award will serve as an example of what that heritage means,” he said.

        Mr. Tolzmann and his wife, Patricia, will attend the Council of 1,000 Banquet Oct. 5 at the Channel Inn in Washington, D.C.

        He is the recipient of the Friendship Award of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal Cross of Merit-Bundesverdienstkreuz Award, the Ficken Award from Baldwin-Wallace College, and the German-American of the Year Award from the Federation of German-American Societies.

        Mr. Tolzmann edits New German-American Studies, a monographic series and has been Ohio editor of New Yorker Staats-Zeitung and editor of the Zeitschrift fur Deutsch-Amerikanische literatur.

        Jill Raleigh, chair of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Hamilton County, will be one of 435 “ambassadors” to visit Washington, D.C., Sept. 19 to lobby on behalf of cancer survivors and victims.

        “Celebration on the Hill” is a grass-roots effort to celebrate cancer survivors and to advocate laws in the fight against cancer.

        Ms. Raleigh is a fifth-grade teacher at Frost Elementary in Mount Healthy.

        Allen Howard's “Some Good News” column runs Sunday-Friday. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are uplifting to the Tristate, let him know at 768-8362, e-mail ahoward@enquirer.com or by fax at 768-8340.

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