Vehar, Watson Named to Clarence High School Wall of Fame

The service of two members of the Clarence High School community was recognized as they were named to the school's Wall of Fame. This year's honorees are choir director Robert Vehar and retired Army Brig. Gen. Marianne E. Watson.

The plaques for each honoree said:

Robert Vehar (1966-2001): A graduate of Ithaca College and Eastman School of Music, Bob was hired to initiate a choral program at Clarence High School. His groups won multiple awards and annually recorded an album during his tenure.

He was a member of the NYS School Music Association for more than 50 years and served on the Board of the Buffalo Philharmonic. He taught at SUNY at Potsdam's Crane School of Music during a one-year sabbatical in 1994-95. Many of his students graduated to sing in college choirs and several went on to be music teachers, professional musicians on Broadway, or to perform with major opera companies. He was often invited to work with the CHS choirs after retirement. Bob's choirs also had an amazingly over-qualified accompanist in his wife of 52 years, Persis Parshall Vehar. 

Graduates report that more than learning how to sing, they also learned how to perform as part of a team and other valuable life skills from their experiences in the choral program.

Brig. Gen. Marianne E. Watson: Brigadier General (Ret.) Marianne E. Watson Class of 1980 with 30 years of distinguished service in the U.S. Army National Guard brought Marianne Watson from the halls of Clarence Central to the highest levels of national military leadership. She rose to serve as Director of Manpower and Personnel (J-1) at the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C., overseeing joint personnel policy, readiness, and quality-of-life programs for more than 460,000 soldiers and airmen. She served under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and deployed to Afghanistan, where she ensured frontline soldiers had logistical support, National Guard Agri-business teams had opportunity to conduct pre-deployment site visits and senior National Guard leaders had situational awareness of their units throughout the theater of operation.

Among her most enduring contributions is the "Joining Community Forces" initiative, a national network connecting military families to education, healthcare, employment, and local resources in every state. Her military honors include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and many others. Since her retirement in 2013, General Watson has devoted herself to suicide prevention and behavioral health advocacy for veterans, serving as a Presidential PREVENTS Task Force Ambassador. She has worked across nonprofit and government sectors to ensure that those who served are never abandoned by the country they protected. Her career is a testament to what it means to lead with both strength and heart, to serve not for recognition, but because it is right. The students of Clarence who pass this wall are invited to carry that example forward. 

Decorated soldier. Compassionate leader. Proud daughter of Clarence.