Coronavirus

Viterbo ready to give 2 years worth of St. John XXIII awards

Published

3 years ago

August 17, 2021

Viterbo University is making up for cancelling a yearly celebration in 2020 because of COVID-19, by planning a fall ceremony to recognize two years’ worth of honorees.

The St. John XXIII Awards will return with a banquet on September 16th, to honor six people for distinguished service.

Deak Swanson, Bruce Simones, and Sister Jean Moore were supposed to receive the Viterbo award last year. Sister Jean actually passed away around the start of the pandemic, so she will be honored posthumously.

The new honorees for 2021 are Nola Starling-Ratliff and John and Linda Lyche. Starling-Ratliff has a lecture hall at the Viterbo Fine Arts Center named after her, and the main theater at the Weber Center in La Crosse is named after the Lyches.

The St. John XXIII banquet in September will be held at the La Crosse Center.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.