For the Termeer family, Dublin pride runs deep. Four generations and a century deep, to be exact.
Last summer, Bobbie Termeer was fishing through her jewelry box when she came across the class ring of her grandmother, Ruthella Dominy Termeer. She noticed the year – 1923 – and did the easy math. Bobbie’s daughter, Lindsey Blagg, would graduate from Dublin Scioto High School exactly 100 years after Ruthella graduated from Washington Township High School.
Lindsey would also be the fourth consecutive generation of the Termeer family to graduate from a Dublin school, following in the footsteps of not only her great-grandmother, but also her grandfather, Richard (Dick) Termeer, who graduated from Dublin High School in 1951, and Bobbie herself, who graduated from Dublin High School in 1983.
Over the course of a century, the Termeers have become a heartwarming testament to the charm and pull of the Dublin community. Less than five minutes into a conversation with Dick, Bobbie and Lindsey, staples like the Dublin Village Tavern, Old Rock swimming hole, the Coffman Homestead and the Fourth of July parade surface. At the heart of the conversation are the schools they attended and the many memories they made participating in athletics and the arts.
The family’s legacy in Dublin schools began with Ruthella, who started high school the same year the 1919 Building opened. There were ten students in her 1923 graduating class, including Mary Emma Bailey, another Dublin icon.
Ruthella and her husband, Henry Albert, had four sons, all of whom attended Dublin schools.
“The house we grew up in was located across the street from the barbershop next door to the Dublin Tavern. Of course, we walked to school cause it wasn’t that far up the hill,” Dick says. “My youngest brother was in first grade and my oldest brother was a senior. My oldest brother would carry my youngest brother on his back to school up the hill.”
Dick also remembers the joy of playing sports after the end of World War II.
“When I was a freshman and my brother, Jerry, was a senior, they started the first football team in Dublin. In 1947, Jerry happened to score the first touchdown that Dublin ever scored,” he says.
Dick went on to become Dublin High School’s class valedictorian, and earned ten varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball. He graduated with 26 other students.
Dick and his wife, Marilyn, who also graduated from Dublin High School in 1955, raised three children in Dublin – Rick, Becki and Bobbie. The third-generation Termeers attended Indian Run Elementary, Dublin Middle School (located at the 1919 Building site), and the “new” Dublin High School (now known as Dublin Coffman High School).
Bobbie, the youngest child, was a Shamrocks cheerleader and played on the first girls tennis team in Dublin. By the time Bobbie graduated, exactly sixty years after her grandmother, Dublin’s senior class had grown to 192 students. Bobbie moved away after high school, but not for long.
“It's a great place to grow up. It offers a great education. I loved my teachers in Dublin. I came back because I wanted my child to grow up here in Dublin,” Bobbie says.
Just as Bobbie anticipated, her daughter, Lindsey, found a home in Dublin schools, too.
“She received great grades. She played sports, including volleyball from third to eleventh grade,” Bobbie says. “And she’s really found her people with the Scioto theater group. It’s a wonderful program, she’s met some of the best people, and she’s found what she wants to do with her career.”
Lindsey, who crossed the stage as a valedictorian and received her diploma Summa Cum Laude from Dublin Scioto High School on May 28, is an exceptional artist. She plans to study fine arts or production design at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the fall.
Sitting at the Dublin Arts Council surrounded by some of her work, Lindsey can’t help but reflect on how Dublin, and her family’s legacy, has shaped her.
“I grew up around here and I took art camps here in the summer. It really grew my love of art and expression. Getting to experience the art community in Dublin has impacted my whole life,” she says. “Me graduating in 2023, after four generations and 100 years is so crazy for me to think about. It’s such a privilege to be so connected to my family lineage and heritage and see directly where I came from. It really made it a home.”
Lindsey also feels a deep connection with, and appreciation for, Dublin schools and teachers. She attended Chapman Elementary and Davis Middle School before joining 352 freshmen at Scioto.
“Just being able to go through the Dublin school system was amazing. It really helped me push myself as an artist and gifted kid,” Lindsey says. “Being able to namedrop my grandpa’s name to some of the teachers and they’ll know him makes me feel sort of famous. It’s just such a community, everyone knows everyone, and the teachers know so much and know how to really help you become the best person that you are.”
A lot about Dublin has changed in the last century. The landscape has transformed tremendously and the class sizes of the schools have multiplied; yet little has changed for the Termeers. Represented by the actions of four generations and in the words of three, “Dublin is the best place to grow up.”
Cassie Dietrich is a Public Information Officer for Dublin City Schools.
