XENIA — Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes and his legal secretary, Maggie Wagner, have put together a unique wall of portraits of former county prosecutors who served Greene County during the past 80 years.

Currently, there are 10 profiled — many of whom are deceased — and their official head shots were hard to find. The wall has been almost three years in the making and involved many hours of research in the Greene County Public Library’s Greene Room.

A reception was held last fall to unveil the wall and meet surviving relatives of the attorneys depicted. Some of the photographs were found in unexpected places.

“Mr. (Marcus) McCallister’s photo was found in the attic of a local resident. Mr. (Marcus) Shoup is the father of the Yellow Springs organist and choir director, Anne Shoup. We were blessed to have all five of his daughters attend the reception,” said Wagner. “The Petersons are the uncle and father of David Peterson (of Peterson & Peterson). David Peterson was able to provide us with the copy of his father, Marshall’s photo, and the Greene Room at the library was able to dig into their morgue (old photos) to find both John Peterson and Reynold Hoeflin’s photos.”

Hoefflin’s photo was the most difficult to track down, Warner said. He is living out of state.

”I exhausted every resource trying to locate him or his family,” Warner said. “There were times when I was cold-calling people based on other’s suggestions or even based on public records that I was able to track down. I am very grateful for all of the people who pitched in and it was so wonderful to have family and friends attend the reception in honor of their loved ones.”

Greene County’s current prosecutor has fond memories of having worked with William (Bill) Schenck and Steve Haller.

“Bill’s favorite stratagem was ‘be prepared’. I realize I have big shoes to fill every time I pass the wall which is located just outside my office,” Hayes said. “The families of the former prosecutors were grateful that we had taken the time to remember their loved ones and their contributions as public servants.”

Eventually, Hayes and his staff hope to add another 10 names to the wall, working their way back to the very first county prosecutor who served around 1803.

Former prosecutors on the wall are: Marcus E. McCallister (1931-1937); Marcus W. Shoup, II (1937-1949); George R. Smith (1949-1957); John C. Peterson (1957-1965); Marshall E. Peterson (1965-1968); Reynold C. Hoefflin (1968-1973); Nicholas A. Carrera (1973-1977); R. Michael DeWine (1977-1981); William F. Schenck (1981-2006); and Stephan K. Haller (2006-2021).

Reach Karen Rase at 937-502-4534.