Much of the Kettering community gathered in the Fairmont Auditorium as the stage lights shone brightly in celebration of this year’s three inductees into the 2025 Performing Arts Hall of Fame. The atmosphere was filled with pride as we honored their remarkable achievements and contributions to the arts.

Not long after, the spotlight shifted to the Chester A. Roush Educational Hall of Fame. Alumni, families, and staff came together in the Fairmont Recital Hall for a heartfelt ceremony recognizing three exceptional educators whose dedication has shaped countless lives across our community.

Performing Arts Hall of Fame was established in 2021. The following criteria is needed in order to be inducted:

MUSICIANS, ACTORS, and/or PERFORMERS:

1. Must be a graduate of one of the four Fairmont High Schools.
2. Only eligible 10 years or more after graduation.
3. Must have made a “significant contribution” to one or more Fairmont Performing Arts programs.
4. Post High School Performing Arts Accomplishments may also be considered

SPECIALS: (Directors, Administrators, and/or Boosters) .

1. Must have served in the Kettering School District for a minimum of five years.
2. Must have been retired from their position for five years.
3. Must have made a “significant contribution” to the Fairmont Performing Arts.

Performing Arts 2025 Inductees:

MICHAEL LICATA:

Michael Licata graduated from Fairmont West in 1971. He made his Fairmont debut in the Camelot, as King Arthur's illegitimate son, Mordred. He also appeared in UTBU, Black Comedy/White Liars, and Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl, a role he reprised a couple of times as a professional actor. He went on to the Conservatory of Music at UC and moved to New York to continue what he started at Fairmont West. Except for a between-gig as a Matre'd; at a Theatre Cabaret, he made his living as an actor or director. His acting career took him worldwide, including German-language productions of West Side Story and Evita, as well as several national tours and appearances on Broadway in Evita and Sweet Charity. He also realized a lifelong dream of appearing in The Fantasticks at The Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village.

In the late 1990s, he began transitioning to directing. His last stage appearance was as Julian Marsh in 42nd Street in 2004, until about three weeks ago. He was happily on his way to the Jersey Shore to join his family when he got a call from a Theater in New Jersey, where he had just directed Man of La Mancha. Apparently, the leading man was on his way to the ER, and in less than two hours, the first of two sold-out performances was scheduled to take place. Did he have any ideas? He did- lots of them, but the theatre had another idea and two hours later, he was on the stage, script in hand, in a show he had directed, playing a part, he had never played. 

After 21 years, you don't forget how to ride a bike, although you might fall off once or twice.  Michael lives in Bucks County, PA, with his wife, Lorelei, a former dancer, and their fourteen-year-old great-granddaughter, aspiring actress Layla Brown.

KYLE KREMER:

Kyle Kremer is an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of California, San Diego.

His research group at UCSD builds connections between the fields of stellar dynamics and compact object astrophysics. Areas of expertise include N-body simulations of dense stellar clusters, detection of compact object binaries via gravitational waves (LIGO & LISA), and high-energy transient phenomena such as tidal disruption events and fast radio bursts. He is also broadly interested in binary star evolution, hydrodynamics of stellar mergers, millisecond pulsars, intermediate-mass black holes, X-ray binaries, and observational searches for black hole binaries. 

Kremer grew up in Ohio and attended Northwestern University for his undergraduate studies, where he double-majored in physics and music performance. After completing his undergraduate degree, he spent three years pursuing a career as an orchestral musician, earning a Master of Music degree at the Colburn School in Los Angeles in 2015, before returning to Northwestern to complete his PhD in astronomy in 2019 under the advisement of Fred Rasio. Following his PhD, he moved back to Southern California as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a NASA Einstein Fellow at Caltech and Carnegie Observatories. He joined the UCSD faculty in Fall 2024.

KIM RICHEY:

Kim Richey graduated from Fairmont East High School in 1975. She attended Western Kentucky University then transferred to Ohio University where she graduated with a degree in Environmental Education. After graduation, she traveled to Sweden, Boston, Colorado, Columbia, back to Colorado and then to Bellingham, WA. In 1988 she moved to Nashville, TN in 1988 after working in restaurants and Nature Centers to give music a try. She was signed to Mercury Records when she was 37 and began her 30 plus years long career as a recording artist. In the world of independent touring singer/songwriters that we honor, Kim may well be the poster child. She is a traveler, after all, musically, physically, emotionally. Not merely restless or rootless, it’s who she is. Willing to follow where the music leads, she’s landed in New York, Nashville, London...working with a who’s who of producers...attracting a coterie of top-shelf genredefiners...Jason Isbell, Trisha Yearwood, Chuck Prophet, Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), Pat Sansone (Wilco)...for her critically-lauded projects...and also singing on records for Ryan Adams, Shawn Colvin, Isbell and Rodney Crowell and many others. Part of what draws them to the dusky honey of her crystalline alto is the way she writes: to and from the soul, never flinching from the conflicts and crushing moments, yet always finding dignity and resilience. Her arc of the human heart is true. True enough that over the years as a songwriter, Kim has written No.1 hits for Radney Foster (“Nobody Wins”) and Trisha Yearwood (“Believe Me Baby”), the latter for which she was Grammy-nominated, as well as songs for Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gretchen Peters, Patty Loveless, Jamie Lawson, Brooks and Dunn, Jim Lauderdale, Kathy Mattea and many more. Over the past two decades Kim has released ten critically acclaimed albums, been listed in the ‘Top 10 Albums of 1999’ in Time Magazine for her album Glimmer, plus received 4- stars in Rolling Stone and named ‘Alt-Country Album of the Year’ in People Magazine for her album Rise. Her 2013 release Thorn In My Heart was named in year’s end best lists by No Depression, The Boston Globe and The Associated Press. She has written two #1 singles and had four others hit Top 10. She has contributed backing vocals on albums by Trisha Yearwood, Ryan Adams, Shawn Colvin, Rodney Crowell and Jason Isbell to name a few.

Chester A Roush Educational Hall of Fame was established in 1975, the Kettering Board of Education established the Chester A. Roush Educational Hall of Fame, to place in perpetuity, for remembrance and inspiration, those individuals who exemplify the life and career of distinguished educator, Chester A. Roush. The Kettering City Schools and Kettering community are genuinely indebted to Mr. Roush for his legacy of exemplary service to the students, District employees and community at-large.  To commemorate the high ideals that characterized his life and career, inductees will be selected who have distinguished themselves in their contribution to education in the Kettering City Schools.  A maximum of three individuals will be honored each year.   

---

---