Bloomfield Hills – During Marian High School’s 9th Annual Celebration of Thanks, Billie Jo Wanink of Bloomfield Hills, was honored for her many years of service and dedication to the school.
The Celebration of Thanks is an annual reception that honors individuals and organizations which have given tremendous amounts of time, talent, and treasure to Marian High School during the year. The Board of Directors and Sr. Lenore Pochelski, IHM, President of Marian, acknowledged over 100 members of the Marian community for their contributions to the school at this gathering.
Billie, a member of Marian’s first graduation class, was honored as part of the school’s 50th Anniversary celebration. “Marian was a brand new school in 1959 when Billie and some 120 other ninth graders from five local Catholic parishes came through the doors to form the first graduating Class of 1963,” Sr. Lenore said in her presentation. Many of the Class of 1963 were at the reception to honor Billie.
After earning degrees from Columbia College and the University of Missouri, Billie returned to Michigan to work in interior design. In 1976, she founded her own company, Interior Systems Contract Group (now known as iscg) in Detroit with a staff of two, offices of 500 square feet, and an investment of $5,000. iscg’s recognition as one of Michigan’s premier workplace furnishings companies grew dramatically through the 1980s; it has been included in Crain’s Detroit Business as one of the Top 25 Woman-owned Businesses in Michigan every year since 1985.
The company moved its headquarters to Royal Oak in 1991, and Billie’s expertise as a woman entrepreneur was recognized by business and professional groups many times over. In 1994, Billie was named Marian’s Distinguished Alumna – not only for her professional accomplishments, but for her loyalty and dedication to Marian High School.
Billie served Marian as a member of the Board of Directors for six years and Board president for two years. She is a past Marian Distinguished Volunteer for National Philanthropy Day and served as the Honorary Chair of this year’s 50th Anniversary celebration. She has remained connected with the school through her consistent support of Marian’s Annual Fund, the Tradition and Vision capital campaign, the Endowment Fund, and the spring raffle. She is a founding member of Marian’s 1959 Society, encouraging the school to begin a planned giving program.
“Billie has organized class reunions, written letters in support of Marian, made phone calls for the school’s advancement projects, delivered speeches on the school’s behalf, and hosted events for our Marian friends,” Sr. Lenore enumerated. “She continues to care about Marian because she says it is a way to ‘give back’ – to say thank you to the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Marian (SSIHMs) and the Marian teachers for her education.”
Sister Lenore concluded, “We who call ourselves Marian are ever so grateful for the gift of Billie Jo Wanink in our lives!”
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