2019 SHHS Hall of Fame Inductees

Margaret Wiley
Mrs. Wiley was a proud member of the original Shawnee Heights High School faculty when the school first opened in the fall of 1963.  Mrs. Wiley started her Shawnee Heights career in a dual role, serving as both the head dietician as well as a part-time foods teacher.  Mrs. Wiley became a full-time food instructor in the Home Economics Department in 1966, where she continued to serve and lead as the department chair until her retirement in 1992. 

Mrs. Wiley taught with her students’ best interest in mind.  She was always researching and creating new units to teach in her classes.  Canning and freezing produce from area farmers and her own garden were common classroom activities in the fall.  It is worth remembering that there was no air conditioning in those days!  In fact, Mrs. Wiley often had to leave the windows open overnight in order to cool the classroom as much as possible.  Candy making, including hand-dipped chocolates, peanut brittle, and chocolate-covered cherries, was among her favorite units as well.

Mrs. Wiley also worked to serve students outside of the classroom.  She was always among the first to sponsor a club, organization, or project.  She took her turn at wearing the T-Bird mascot which, for several years, was a duty only the teachers took part in.  Mrs. Wiley also took her turn as the junior class sponsor, spending countless hours in the spring working with students to create an inviting, successful prom experience for juniors and seniors. Mrs. Wiley served as an assistant track coach, helped in starting the first Pep Club and, because boys were not allowed to be in Home Economics classes until the early 1970s, started the Boys’ Foods Club which met outside of the school day. 

Mrs. Wiley was an active member of the Shawnee Heights Education Association, serving as president and vice president during her tenure.  She was a member of the teacher negotiation team for several years.  This experience motivated her to earn her administrative degree so that she could better understand all perspectives, and she felt it made her a better classroom teacher and negotiator.  Her service to the profession also included time on regional Uni-Serve committees, district-level curriculum and calendar committees, and building leadership teams. 

The greater Shawnee Heights community and the City of Topeka benefited from Mrs. Wiley’s call to serve.  She was a member of several organizations, including the Topeka Home Economics club, American Cooking club, the Eastern Star, and the Alpha Delta Kappa, and Delta Theta Chi sororities.  She and her family were active members of Highland Park United Methodist Church.  Mrs. Wiley and her husband served on the Worship Committee and served as Sunday School teachers and youth group sponsors.  Mrs. Wiley was also the Den Leader of her son’s Cub Scout pack and, along with her husband, worked with many boy scouts over years to earn merit badges and supervised numerous hiking and camping trips.

Margaret Wiley passed away in February 2005.  Accepting this award on her behalf is her daughter and Shawnee Heights teacher Mrs. Donna Deever. 


Kerry Kapfer
Mrs. Kapfer began her teaching career in the Auburn-Washburn School District in 1976.  After four years there and one year at Perry Middle School, Mrs. Kapfer accepted a teaching position at Shawnee Heights Middle School.  She taught both 7^th and 8^th-grade science at the middle school from 1981 through 1989 before transferring to the high school, where she continued teaching in the science department until her retirement in 2018.

During her time in the classroom, Mrs. Kapfer served on the school site council, participated in the NASA Teacher in Space Program, and was an active member in the National Science Teachers Association.  She earned the Master Teacher Award several times and was nominated numerous times by students for the Most Inspirational Teacher, winning the award on multiple occasions. 

Mrs. Kapfer’s impact on students is immeasurable.  Her influence as a teacher and a coach will stretch for generations as many of those she impacted have followed in her footsteps.  One of Mrs. Kapfer’s colleagues writes, “Kerry Kapfer has been a great part of Shawnee Heights history.  She has been an amazing teacher, coach, and colleague.  By instilling curiosity and love of learning, she has had great influence on students to pursue post high school careers in science.” 

While the numbers only tell a small part of her story, Mrs. Kapfer enjoyed great success on the volleyball court.  She was the volleyball captain as a senior at Lawrence High School in 1971, the first year for girls sports at LHS.  Following high school, Mrs. Kapfer played volleyball at the University of Kansas, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education in 1976. 

Mrs. Kapfer coached volleyball for thirty-three years, including twenty-six years as the head coach at Shawnee Heights High School.  Her teams qualified for state thirteen times, finishing in the top four nine times including back-to-back state titles in 1999 and 2000.  In all, Mrs. Kapfer coached her team to over seven hundred wins.  She was named an all-star coach three times and won multiple league and city coach-of-the-year awards.  Mrs. Kapfer served as executive director of the Kansas Volleyball Association for nine years and spoke on numerous occasions at the coaching clinics.  She is a member of the Kansas Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Ingrid Garrison
Dr. Garrison is a 1994 graduate of Shawnee Heights and continues to live in the Topeka area.

Dr. Garrison’s service to community started even before her high school graduation as she joined the Kansas Air National Guard while a senior in high school.  Immediately following high school graduation, Dr. Garrison attended boot camp through the Air Force, starting off at the rank of E1 and serving as an aircraft mechanic.  Well over twenty years later, Dr. Garrison retired from the 190^th Air Refueling Wing as a Lieutenant Colonel where she served from 2003-2017 as a Public Health Officer.

Because of her early commitment to the military, Dr. Garrison delayed her entrance into college until the fall of 1995.  She attended Kansas State University, earning her undergraduate degree from the College of Agriculture in 1999.  Dr. Garrison continued her education at Kansas State University, graduating with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2003. 

During her college years, Dr. Garrison already knew she did not want to follow the path of a traditional veterinarian.  Her early undergraduate college experiences included a trip to India, where she was on a team that provided free veterinary care to animals throughout several communities.  Services also included severely needed rabies vaccinations for dogs. 

Dr. Garrison briefly left Kansas following the completion of her veterinary program, working in the Joplin, Missouri area for 1-1/2 years before continuing her education at Iowa State University, where she earned a Master of Public Health degree in 2005. 

Since 2005, Dr. Garrison has had vast experiences working with the Center for Disease Control and has made an impact on an international level.  In addition to serving with the 190^th, Dr. Garrison has also served the last eleven years working with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.  She is currently a member of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Response Team within the KSHE.  In addition, Dr. Garrison is also the president of the Kansas Animal Response Team, a group of volunteers that travels across the state in response to disaster emergencies to take care of animals in need. 

Vikki Noonan

Dr. Noonan is a 1989 graduate of Shawnee Heights High School and currently resides in Easton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.

Following high school, Dr. Noonan attended the University of Kansas where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Human Biology in 1993.  Dr. Noonan continued her education at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, earning her Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry in 1997.  She continued her schooling at the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine and completed a Doctorate of Medical Sciences in Oral Biology and Certification in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology. 

Dr. Noonan is the founder and head of the Clinical Oral Pathology Practice at Boston Medical Center where she also serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Oral Diseases. She is an associate professor in the Division of Oral Pathology for Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine and an associate pathologist at StrataDx.  Her primary interests include clinical and surgical oral and maxillofacial pathology, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral dental education, and research pertaining to the biological basis of oral cancer.  Dr. Noonan is a highly published practitioner in peer-reviewed literature and has made numerous presentations on a variety of topics related to her career field. 

Currently, Dr. Noonan serves as an editorial board member for the Journal of the Massachusetts Dental Society.  She is also a member of the Commission on Dental Accreditation Review Committee on Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Education.