BARBERTON’S WALK OF FAME Community, tragedy tie 2024 inductees

PHOTO BY BOB MOREHEAD | BGNN
Robert Martin stands next to the replica paver, leaning on his own.

By BOB MOREHEAD
BGNN senior staff writer

Improving their home and/or bringing something good out of something bad were the factors that tied together the 2024 class of Barberton’s Walk of Fame, inducted Sept. 27.

Inspired by the stretch of cement in Hollywood, Barberton’s walk features pavers on the south side of W Tuscarawas Avenue celebrating the Magic City’s most prominent sons and daughters.

This year’s class had four inductees, three posthumous. The first was one of them the most tragic.

Joshua Miller was a 15-year-old outstanding high school student and standout athlete, excelling in both wrestling and football. Oct. 27, 2000, during the last football game of the season, Miller ran to the sidelines for a drink of water and collapsed. Attempts to revive him failed. He was gone, the victim of a previously undetected heart defect.

The family subsequently fought to force meaning out of his death and the Josh Miller Helping Everyone Access Responsive Treatment in Schools (HEARTS) Act passed through Congress with the help of Congresswoman Betty Sutton, a 1981 BHS graduate. Soon, schools, churches, arenas and other public venues across the United States had automated external defibrillators hanging on the walls.

“This tragedy forever changed my family,” Khristine Burgess, Josh’s sister, said on accepting the award. “But we were able to start a movement across this country.”

Avilee Webb was a mother with a mission to improve her South End neighborhood, organizing a Community Block Club and lobbying both for the paving of the neighborhood’s cinder roads and establishing Elson Park, subsequently renamed in her honor.

“She always did for others,” her daughter, Amelia Jones, said at the ceremony. “And she got those roads paved.”

Webb died March 8, 1977, only a couple weeks shy of her 54th birthday.

Elwood Palmer was a major force in Barberton, serving three terms as a city councilman and three mayors as service director. He also served on a variety of boards and commissions, including the Barberton Community Foundation, the hospital board and the Parks and Recreation Commission. He also embarked on a second career as a photographer, capturing special moments for many Magic City school kids.

“Elwood was special to you and special to his family,” his widow, Theresa, tearfully told the crowd at the ceremony. “And this community treated us like royalty!”

The fourth inductee was alive, healthy, and grateful for the honor. Bassist Robert Martin was the token Barbertonian in the mostly Norton membership of the Easy Street Band. The classic rock combo was huge in Northeast Ohio clubs and had the honor of opening for global acts like Tom Petty, Pat Benatar, Meat Loaf, and The Guess Who. Band memorabilia dressed the bar set of The Drew Carey Show.

Easy Street regroups for annual reunion shows and, in between, Martin plays for Southside Johnny tribute band The Asbury All-Stars and Meat Loaf tribute Paradise.

In recent years, Martin turned his talent and connections into the annual Rock Cancer benefit concerts on W Tuscarawas Avenue. Proceeds go to cancer victims and their families.

“I’m proud to be from Barberton and proud to have played all those dances where kids packed the gym at the old Industrial Arts Building,” Martin said. “And those kids grew up and support our band like no one else.”