Larry Michaels – Author and Local Historian

Presentation: “Rutherford B. Hayes: Young Lawyer in Fremont”

Bio: Larry Michaels is a Lutheran minister and local history author. With his Ph.D. in English, he taught part-time for many years at the University of Toledo. With his cousin, Krista, he has written several local history books about Fremont and Sandusky County, including “Fremont and Sandusky County: Then and Now” and “Fremont: Then & Now.” He is active in several local organizations, including the Sandusky County Bicentennial Committee and the Sandusky County Historical Society.

Mike Gilbert—Educator and Local Historian

Mike Gilbert is a retired teacher, having taught at Fremont Ross High School for 38 years and at Terra Community College with Lifelong Learning for 10 years. He hosts the History Roundtable with the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, a popular series in which Gilbert shares stories of local and national history. The program is currently in its 9th year. Gilbert published his first book Double Down in February, 2022.

Robert Gillmor – Gillmor Ordnance, Ltd.

For most of his life, Bob Gillmor has been looking to blow stuff up. Now he has made this lifelong hobby a career. He started out by participating in civil war reenactments and experimenting with cannon making in his spare time when he wasn’t at his salary job. In 1998, C. Robert Gillmor from Old Fort, Ohio founded Gillmor Ordnance, Ltd. He bought a foundry and has since been fulfilling cannon orders for customers and producers of motion pictures including Gods and Generals and the Last Samurai. He is also a part of many events like the annual Pyrate Fest at Put-In-Bay, Ohio where he fires cannons every hour to keep everyone’s attention.