Career center honors fallen firefighter

MILAN TWP. — EHOVE Career Center unveiled a plaque on Sunday recognizing an alumnus who died battling a fire last year. The plaque in the center's Gallery of Believers honors John Saunders, a 2002 graduate of EHOVE's auto tech program and a 2011 graduate of its volunteer firefighter program. Saunders died on April 17, 2025 while he and fellow firefighters with the Greenwich/Tri-Community Joint Fire Department were battling a house fire in Greenwich. He was 41 and a 15-year veteran of the fire department. The plaque at the career center was made possible through a $750 donation from Northern Ohio FOOLS, short for Fraternal Order of the Leatherheads Society, to the career center's Gallery of Believers Scholarship Fund, according to a post online from the career center. "Established in 2018 as part of EHOVE's 50th anniversary, Gallery of Believers supports scholarships for EHOVE students who are pursuing post-secondary training, enrolling in an apprenticeship program or entering the military or workforce," the post states.