Alumni Hall of Fame
Service to St. Marys City Schools (2024)

John C. Andreoni was a member of the St. Marys Memorial High School Class of 1959. He grew up during World War II living above the family’s confectionery store in St. Marys, learning to fish and hunt from his father, Victor. John described himself as a “canal rat,” where he grew up exploring the area’s ponds, wetlands, and woodlands. He discovered his lifelong love of the outdoors with the Miami-Erie Canal as his backyard and Lake St. Marys as the only natural limits on his adventures. John wrote in later years about his fond memories of tying the cane fishing pole he bought for 10 cents to the door handles of his dad’s 1937 Plymouth, buying minnows at a hole-in-the-wall bait shop along the East Bank, and then leisurely spending the day fishing with his dad at wherever the fish were biting. His love for nature in this area was unquestioned. In fact, John proudly chose to return to his rural Ohio “stomping grounds” as he called them with his wife in 1966. 

John was a talented musician who played piano to pay for college. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Bowling Green State University in 1963 and a Master in Curriculum and Supervision from Miami University of Ohio. He was also a Doctoral Candidate at BGSU studying mass communications. While at BGSU, John served in ROTC and, upon graduation, he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. He proudly served in the Medical Service Corps in the Vietnam War. In 1964, John married the love of his life, Sally Stienecker. His family described them as a love story for the ages. For 49 years, she read, proofed, and filed every column John wrote until her passing in 2018.

John was hired to teach eighth grade English at McBroom Junior High School in 1966. In 1986, John moved to Memorial High School to teach Freshman and Sophomore English, Print and Video Communications, and Speech. “Mr. A,” as he was affectionately known by his students, had an uncanny ability to find the potential in each of his students and encouraged them to be the best version of themselves possible. He offered unwavering support to both students and colleagues. He always had an open door where he dispensed sage advice with his famous dry sense of humor. John also had a strong commitment to sharing his love of reading and life by teaching and mentoring young minds. John was the teacher students turned to for help and guidance in and beyond the classroom, and John never turned anyone away. John truly lived the philosophy he espoused – that it was every man’s responsibility to leave the world a little better than he found it. After 35 years, he retired from teaching high school in 1993. He then taught Fundamentals of Communications course at Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio, for nine years.

Those who knew John recognized his insatiable passion for the outdoors including hunting, fishing, boating, and wildlife. John especially loved dogs and wrote fondly about his first dog Ginger, his birddog named Ally, and a chocolate lab escape artist named Buster. John combined his love of writing and his knowledge of the outdoors and wildlife into a weekly column for area sportsmen. On October 16, 1969, he published his first column in The Evening Leader and continued to write “Outdoors with Forda Birds” for five decades. Every week for over 50 years, he wrote about Ohio wildlife and history and local outdoor sporting issues. He advocated to restore the Miami-Erie Canal, for the establishment of the North Country Trail for hiking, for removing man-made pollutants in the soil and water, for replacing the city dump with a beautiful park along the Miami-Erie Canal now known as K.C. Geiger Park, for establishing the first recycling in the city, for supporting an environmental quality amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and for many other environmental, wildlife, and political issues that affected outdoor sportsmen. With this passion and his gifts as a writer and educator he brought his worlds together. He compiled highlights of his columns into five books, one for each decade, called “Going Wild With Forda Birds.” John also served as the Publisher and Editor of Ohio Out-of-Doors magazine, wrote hundreds of articles for outdoors periodicals, hosted a radio talk show, and was a member of the Outdoor Writers of Ohio and Outdoor Writers of America. He received numerous national and state writing awards and was recognized as the “Outdoor Communicator of the Year” in 1995. Edison Community College awarded him the “Excellence in Teaching” award in 2004. He was also chosen as the recipient of the prestigious Builder of Bridges Award in 2009 for service to his community.

For inspiring generations of young adults as an educator at St. Marys City Schools and Edison Community College, for seeing and encouraging each student’s potential and serving as a role model and mentor, and for bringing his teaching career and outdoor hobbies together as a columnist, publisher, editor, writer, and author that reached the St. Marys community and beyond, John Andreoni is hereby inducted into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation’s Hall of Fame for Service to St. Marys City Schools.