Etzler brothers named Grand Marshals

VW independent staff

CONVOY — Brothers Ray and Floyd Etzler have been named as Grand Marshals of the 2024 Convoy Community Days parade, scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, July 13. The parade theme is “The Little Town That Does Big Things” and the parade will travel from the Crestview Local Schools to Edgewood Park.

Floyd Etzler moved to Convoy with his parents and siblings in 1946 and attended Convoy Union and graduated with Crestview High School’s first class, the Class of 1961. He attended Wright State in Celina and Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne. He married his high school sweethard, Ruth Ann (Harting) Etzler in 1963. They are the parents of Scott Etzler, Sara Royer and Suzi Adams, and have six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

In his childhood years he was a newspaper carrier, mowed lawns, baled hay, cleaned soybeans and painted a house. Floyd retired from International Harvester engineering in Fort Wayne as a senior project engineer in 2006. He received several U.S. patent awards. He is a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church, served as past president of the Convoy Lions Club, served on the Van Wert County School Board, created drawings for the layout of Edgewood Park and was on the parks board.

Ray Etzler graduated from Convoy Union in 1959, then attended Defiance College on a basketball scholarship and earned All-Conference, All-District and All-American honors before graduating in 1963. He began teaching at Crestview North Elementary, then moved to the high school where he taught social studies, then served as a guidance counselor, high school principal, interim superintendent, elementary principal and athletic director.

He coached basketball, baseball, girls track and football, and was inducted into the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, won the Paul Waler Award, Bob Arnnzen Award, Coach of the Year honors and District 8 honors. Ray was inducted into the Defiance College Hall of Fame and received the Outstanding Achievement Award. He and his wife Coleen (Bagley) Etzler have been married for 62 years and have four children – Lori Hammons, Doug Etzler, Andrew Etzler and Daniel Etzler. They have 12 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. He is a member of the Convoy Lions Club and Gideons International, as well as the Redeemer Lutheran Church.

Honorary Grand Marshals for the parade will be Ray Bonar, Liam and Patricia Mailey, Caroline Mailey, and Patrick Dunnion, friends from Convoy  Donegal Ireland visiting for Convoy’s 150^th anniversary celebration.