The Honorable Stephen Baratta - 1974   Stephen G. Baratta graduated from Bangor Area High School in 1974, Lafayette College in 1978, and Fordham University School of Law in 1981. He has been admitted to practice law both in the State of New York and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 1981, he began his private practice in Easton, Pennsylvania.   Stephen has a history of governmental service, beginning in 1985 as Solicitor to Northampton County Children and Youth. In 1990, he became an Assistant County Solicitor, where his duties included representation of Northampton County Department of Human Services. In 1992, District Attorney John Morganelli appointed Judge Baratta to be his First Assistant District Attorney, where he remained until his installation as Judge.   Judge Baratta was elected in November of 1997, for a ten-year term commencing January 4, 1998. He presides over civil and criminal trials and is also assigned to preside in Domestic Relations Court and Motions Court.   Throughout his career, Judge Baratta has remained active in the community. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Easton, VIA of the Lehigh Valley, Inc. (a successor organization to both Lehigh Valley Association of Rehabilitation Centers, Inc. and United Cerebral Palsy) and the Bangor Area High School Alumni Association. He is also a member of the American Judicature Society, the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, as well as a member of the Pennsylvania and Northampton County Bar Associations.   Currently, Judge Baratta serves on the Corrections Committee of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges. He is also an active participant in the Criminal Law Section of the Conference.	Dr. Gottfried "Joe" Guennel - 1939   Joe Guennel is a well-known scientist, teacher, author, athlete, coach, and an organizer and promoter of the sport of soccer. Born in Oelsnitz, Germany, he emigrated to the United States in 1934 at the age of 13. He graduated from Bangor High School in 1939, received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in botany from Butler University in 1943 and 1949, respectively, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1960. While a student at BHS Joe lettered in football and basketball and was captain of the baseball team. He also lettered in baseball and captained the team at Butler University.   He served in the U.S. Army reserve in 1942-43, the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945, the 44th Infantry Division in France and Germany, and the 3rd Infantry Division in Germany and Austria. He worked for the U.S. War Department in 1946-47, and as a teacher at Franklin College, Indiana in 1949. From 1949 to 1961, Joe was a researcher for the Indiana Geological Survey in Bloomington, Indiana. From 1961 to 1983 he worked in research for the Ohio Oil Co./Marathon Oil Co. in Littleton, Colorado.   When Joe and his wife, Hilde, moved to Colorado in 1961, he became active in community sports as a coach and organizer. He is known as "the father of Colorado soccer" and is a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. He has been inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, NY, for his work promoting soccer in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain region. On his resume there are 87 listings pertaining to soccer covering a span of 50 years. The list contains everything from team organizations to Olympic affiliations as well as three Hall of Fame memberships.   He has published over 30 papers and has become internationally known in palynology, the study of pollen spores. He is listed in Men of Achievement, Who's Who, and American Men and Women of Science. Joe retired in 1983 and undertook an intensive study of the flora of Colorado, painting, photographing, and describing plants throughout the state, as well as cataloging slides and specimens he collected over the years while hiking and climbing. In 1995, he compiled and organized his work into a 2-volume set, Guide to Colorado Wildflowers.
Dr. Brooks Kleber - 1936M   Brooks E. Kleber graduated from Bangor High School midyear in 1936 and from Dickinson College in 1940. He studied for his master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania for one year prior to his induction into the service where he served as a Captain in the 90th infantry division. He was captured in Normandy on June 26, 1944, and held as a POW in Stalag 64 in Poland until the end of the war. After WWII he stayed in the Army Reserve and retired at the rank of Colonel.   His military awards include the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Star Medal, and a Meritorious Service Medal. He was named to the Infantry Hall of Fame in Fort Benning, GA in 1982.   He continued his education, receiving an M.A. degree in 1948 and a Ph.D. in 1957, both from the University of Pennsylvania.   From 1950 until 1963 he held the position of Assistant Chief of History in the US Army Chemical Corps at the Army CML Center in Maryland. Following that he went to Fort Monroe, Virginia where he was the Chief Historian for the U.S. Continental Army Command from 1963-1973, and the Chief Historian for the USA Training and Doctrine Command from 1973 to 1980. The next 7 years were spent in Washington, DC as Deputy Chief Historian at the USA Center of Military History (1980-1984) and the Assistant Chief of Military History (1984-1987).   Dr. Kleber has co-authored and served as a consultant for many books and publications including: Chemicals in Combat in U.S. Army in WWII, 1966, Prisoners of War (Time-Life WWII Series), 1981, and the Dictionary of American Military Biography, 1984.   He received the Department of Army Award for Meritorious Civilian Service in 1982, the Commander's Award for Civilian Service in 1983 and 1987, and the Department of Army Award for Exceptional Civilian Service in 1993.   Brooks married his wife, Mae, in 1946. She died in 1991. They had no children.	Donna Davanzo Strauss - 1960   Donna Strauss graduated from BAHS in 1960 and received her B.S. in physical education from East Stroudsburg University in 1964. As a teacher in the Allentown School District from 1964 to 1971, Donna started an intramural after-school gymnastics program, which has since evolved into one of the top gymnastics schools in the nation. Since 1968, the Parkettes cofounders, Donna and Bill Strauss, have coached 104 members of the National Gymnastics Team, 3 USA Senior National Champions, 3 USA Junior National Champions, 4 USA Olympic Team members, 10 USA World Championship Team members, 6 Pan American Team members, and 9 Special Olympians competing at the International Special Olympics.   As a USA national team coach, Donna has coached the AA Champion in the 1999 International Team Meet, the gold medal team in the 1998 International Team Meet, the gold medal team in the 1998 Pacific Alliance Championships, and the balance beam gold medallist in the 1998 Goodwill Games. She has also coached the 1997 World Championships Team and was the 1988 USA Women's Gymnastics Team Olympic Coach.   Her numerous awards for coaching include the 2002 International Coach of the Year, the 1999 USA World Championship Team Coach, 4 time USA Gymnastics Coach of the Year (1999, 1998, 1994, 1986), the 1998 USOC Coach of the Year, the 1997 USA Gymnastics Sportswoman of the Year, the 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women's Sports Foundation (Lehigh Valley), and induction into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame (1989).   Donna and Bill have three children and two grandchildren and live in Wescosville, PA.
Dr. Judith Share Yaphe - 1962 Dr. Judith Share Yaphe is Senior Research Fellow and Middle East Project Director in the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair, Washington, DC. She specializes in Iraq, Iran, Arabian/Persian Gulf security issues, and Political Islam/Islamic extremism. Before joining INSS in 1995, Dr. Yaphe served for 20 years as a senior analyst on Middle Eastern and Persian Gulf issues in the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA. Among Dr. Yaphe's accomplishments in government was her role as senior political analyst on Iraq and the Gulf, for which she received the Intelligence Medal of Commendation.   In addition to her duties as Middle East Team Chief at INSS, Dr. Yaphe has been Project Director for programs on Islamic Activism and U.S. Strategic Interests in the Middle East and North Africa, The Middle East in 2015, and Shaping the Strategic Environment in the Persian Gulf. Her most recent publications include: • The Middle East in 2015: The Impact of Regional Trends on U.S. Strategic Planning. NDU Press: August 2002. (book) • Strategic Implications of a Nuclear-Armed Iran, National Defense University Press, June, 2001. (book) • Three Crises in Search of a Policy, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Vol. 25 (Winter 2001). • Iraq: The Exception to the Rule (U.S.-Iraq policy), The Washington Quarterly (Winter 2001), pp. 125-137   Dr. Yaphe frequently briefs senior U.S. and foreign officials and has testified before Senate and Congressional committees on regional strategic issues. In addition, she lectures to a number of government and private academic institutions on Iraq, Islamic radicalism, and U.S. policy and has appeared on various news programs, including NPR, Nightline, and NBC Nightly News. She is often quoted in the print media as well. Dr. Yaphe received a B.A. with Honors in History from Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern History from the University of Illinois. She was the recipient of NDEA and NDFL fellowships and wrote her doctoral dissertation on The Arab Revolt in Iraq, 1916-1920. She taught Middle Eastern History at the University, Champaign-Urbana campus, from 1972 through 1974, and now teaches Middle Eastern History at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD.

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