North High Hall of Fame Inductee - 2005 Claradell (Gergely) Shedd Class of June, 1953
05/05/05: Claradell (Gergely) Shedd, orphaned at six by a tornado which claimed the lives of both of her parents, lived thereafter with relatives and friends, to include a farm and mining community in southern Iowa, before making her home with acquaintances of her late parents during her elementary, Warren Harding, and North High days. A child of the Depression, Claradell learned early and applied well the work ethic and discipline to serve her significantly in the future. After North High graduation, came Drake and KRNT Radio-TV, followed by the U. S. Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. Married in 1958 at West Point, Claradell and her husband, Harry, traveled and lived worldwide, with Claradell being employed as a legal secretary, special assistant to the CEO of Carl's Jr. restaurants (now Hardee's), executive assistant to the CEO and president of Ling Electronics (eventually LTV/Ling-Temco-Vought; electronics/aerospace firm in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas/Southern California); and, with her husband's transfer to Seattle, she served as assistant to seven vice presidents and the president of The Boeing Aerospace Company, where she received many awards and accolades. Her pleasant associations were many as personal assistant to the chief engineer of the 737, the creator of the Long-Range Cruise Missile (ALCM), involvement in the 727, 737, 747, and various military aircraft and missilery. During this 33+-year tenure at Boeing, she received her BA in business, ensued by considerable post graduate study. Following Boeing, in pursuit of academic credentials emphasizing web and graphic design, she once again became a college coed and graduated magna cum laude, acknowledged at commencement by the president of the college as "the overachiever of the class." Claradell has worked full time for over nineteen years (as of 2022) on the creation of various websites as a "gift to her 1953 class and to the spirit of North Des Moines High School (IA)," encompassing classes from 1893 to present. Acknowledged as the finest high school archive in the nation and awarded a university citation as a "model website," industry has placed a substantial dollar value on the continually expanding site. http://www.ndmhs.com  Over 5,000 monthly accesses are regularly recorded for the four North High sites. Claradell's 44 websites generate over 350,000 accesses a month. (Computer accesses for the calendar year 2015 exceeded 6,000,000.) Her interests include snow skiing in the Cascades, golf at our "back yard" Sahalee course, quilting...a quilt a month and membership in a monthly women's quilting group for the last sixteen years (175+ quilts shown online, http://www.hshedd.com/quilts/index.html), conducting garden tours/roses (blue ribbons in competition), gift wrapping (seminar/cruise presentations, http://www.hshedd.com/gift%20wrapping/index.html), blue ribbons for her floral arrangement designs, conducting annual holiday tours of miniature villages in their home (500 visitors per Christmas season); event planning (largest organizational event was for over 3,000), community-organized gatherings, and teaching needlepoint, sewing, tailoring, interior design, and crafts. In the art field, Claradell is a nationally recognized authority on water color. In family genealogy; have over 41,500 entries on my family tree back to the year 1615; have done my husband's family tree back to 1020. Computing skills include relational databases for golf scoring at Junior America's Cup, men's amateur, and women's collegiate tournaments, as well as working media in PGA, NEC, and Senior Open events. Websites on her home page number approximately forty-four with more on the drawing board. Computer photographic restoration work (Emma Case Moulton) now hangs in the lobby of "old North High." At one time active golfers themselves, Claradell and her husband now regularly host collegiate, amateur, and professional golfers playing in local tournaments, as well as assisting golfers in beginning careers within the professional ranks. In the 1980's, they sponsored six immigrants who lived with them during the orientation phase. Professionally, Claradell is active in Phi Theta Kappa, international scholastic honor society, and Phi Gamma Nu, co-ed business fraternity. She is currently working on an autobiography of her life. Claradell and her husband have participated in volunteer activities for the City of Sammamish's Farmers' Market, the Citizens for Sammamish citizens' rights group, Sammamish Heritage Society (preservation and restoration), and various other civic causes. Recently, for over eight years, Claradell and her husband volunteered as certified WA State ombudsmen advocating for the rights and dignity of seniors, being assigned to facilities housing over 500 seniors. Claradell has served on Boards of Directors for the Professional Secretaries Association, homeowners' associations, the North High Hall of Fame, and multiple Boeing committees. 2012, 2015, and 2019 (three terms through 2023): Appointed by her local City Council as Sammamish Arts Commissioner. Proclamation by City of Sammamish for Volunteer Achievement; 2013; President's Volunteer Achievement, 2015. 2018: Sammamish Volunteer of the Year Award and Trump Presidential Gold Volunteer Award for over 4,000 (4,306) volunteer hours. Credo: "Attitude more than age determines energy." Additional interests can be viewed at http://www.hshedd.com/. Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart. Life is a gift. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. The more numerous my contacts with the world out there, the more instances I observe of evil being manifested, tragically, through and from sources I once thought could be trusted. Not so. Individuals seem to thrive on focusing on evil rather than good. I am reminded of a credo taken from one of my husband's West Point primers: "Strengthen and increase our admiration for honest dealing and clean thinking, and suffer not our hatred of hypocrisy and pretense ever to diminish. Encourage us in our endeavor to live above the common level of life. Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won. Endow us with courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when truth and right are in jeopardy. Guard us against flippancy and irreverence in the sacred things of life." Where are ethics, honesty, honor, integrity, and the value system we knew as youngsters? I now count among the most evil out there the very personages who grew up similarly, attended the same schools, and frequented the same city parks and points of interest. Tragically, they have sacrificed, refused, and removed spiritual values from their lives and chosen the "easier wrong." Their attitudes and actions represent the epitome of humanism, compromising exemplary values and standards once held lofty and respected by our society. They have chosen cowardly evil. Unfortunately, through their association, they diminish every life they touch. 12/17/20: Awarded the national "Extra Mile Heroes" accolade; nominated by the City of Sammamish, WA. Domains for North High websites Claradell personally created, owns, maintains, and has copyrighted: http://www. ndmhs.com; Home page for North High Alumni Classes, 1893-2016; (historical records, photographic collections, student data, etc.) http://www.nhhalloffame.com/; (North High Hall of Fame) http://www.nhathhalloffame.com/ (Athletic Hall of Fame); http://www.nhwallofhonor.com/; (military service: Wall of Honor) (two national awards) and page; http://www.nhwallofhonor.com/pages/rotc.html
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