The Curtain Raisers Advisory Board of The University of Findlay inducted three honorees into its Performing Arts Wall of Fame on Saturday, April 22.

The UF Performing Arts Wall of Fame honors former students, faculty and community members who have given unselfishly of their time and energy to the advancement of the performing arts at The University of Findlay.  Inductees were Dr. Louis Chenette, Dr. Loren L. Pace and the late Dr. Jean C. Nye.

Louis Chenette was hired by Findlay College in January 1960 to teach in the music department.  A native of Powersville, Iowa, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in music from Wheaton college, a master of music degree from Northwestern University and a doctorate from The Ohio State University.  He started the Findlay College marching band, concert band and pep band.  He also is the author of the school fight song. Working with the music faculty, he helped develop a music major leading to teacher certification that eventually led to accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music.

Named as chair of the Fine Arts Division in 1966, Chenette was appointed as assistant academic dean the following year.  In 1969, he was made assistant to President Ivan Frick and served as director of planning and research. He applied for the license for the campus radio station, WLFC; was involved in the planning and construction of the Frank J. Egner Center for the Performing Arts and Shafer Library; and chaired the committee that brought the first computer to campus.  He served as acting president from November 1971 until March 1972 when Dr. Glen Rasmussen become president.

In the community, Chenette was president of the Hancock County Public Library trustees, president of the Civic Music Association, director of the choir at the College First Church of God and a member of Kiwanis.  In September 1972, he resigned to become dean of the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind.  He and his wife, Emily, have five children.

A native of Roseville, Ohio, Loren Pace has been involved with music from the time he began piano lessons with his mother at the age of 4 and started playing the saxophone at age 11.  He enrolled at the Ohio University School of Music where he was a voice and piano major and a member of the marching band for two years.  He earned money for tuition, room and board by playing in campus dance bands.

Pace continued to play his sax in Los Angeles during the big-band swing era of the 1940s before returning to Ohio where he worked his way through The Ohio State School of Optometry by playing in Columbus-area dance bands. 

He began his optometry practice in Findlay in the 1950s, but continued to perform in northwest Ohio as a member of the Fostoria Federation Band and as a featured performer with the Ernie Duffield Big Band.      He also played with “The Moonlighters,” a jazz combo, and maintained his membership in the local musicians’ union until the mid-1990s.

Pace also has performed on the tenor sax as a community member of The University of Findlay Symphonic Band for the past 15 years, and has been a longtime member of the Findlay Civic Summer Band and Findlay Civic Jazz.  He is an active member of the Kiwanis Club and is in his 55th year of singing in the choir of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Findlay.

Born in Unionville, Pa., Jean C. Rosenberger Nye earned her bachelor’s degree in languages from Geneva College, a master’s degree in Spanish from the University of Pittsburgh and her doctorate from the University of Toledo.

In 1959, she began her career at Findlay College as assistant professor of modern languages.  She expanded the Spanish program to include bilingual multicultural education, which in 1982 was the first such program certified in Ohio, and she influenced the Ohio legislature to mandate certification of bilingual teachers.

In 1989, Nye launched a master’s degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and bilingual education.  Her involvement in languages and multiculturalism led to the creation of the International Center for Language and Resource Development in 1990, where she served as director.

She received numerous local, state and national awards, and was much sought after as a speaker for conferences sponsored by the U.S. and Ohio Departments of Education and others. In 1997, she was named assistant vice president of institutional advancement.  Her success as a grant writer for her programs and for the institution resulted in more than $10 million in grants over her career.

In addition to her academic activities, Nye was known for her artistic and musical talents.  She played the organ for weekly chapel services and other campus events, and she served as organist for the McComb First Presbyterian Church, where her husband, the Rev. James Nye, was pastor.

She was a member of the Arts Partnership of Greater Hancock County, Zonta International, the UF Women’s Association, Town and Campus, Hancock County Society for Historic Preservation and many others. 

Following her death in 2000, the Dr. Jean C. Nye Memorial Choir Scholarship was established by her estate and through the generosity of friends, family, colleagues and former students.  The scholarship funds awards to deserving members of the UF Concert-Chorale.