Nominations for the Grand Island Senior High School Hall of Honor are accepted throughout each year. Nominations are reviewed each year and inductees are named. We are excited to announce the Hall of Honor Banquet & Celebration is projected to be held again in 2024.
The Hall of Honor, inaugurated in 1983, recognizes Grand Island Senior High School alumni who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the betterment of society. Nominees must have graduated more than 20 years ago from the high school. Each year, at least one person is inducted into the Hall of Honor.
Nomination Form
Online nominations are encouraged using the online form below. Email foundation@gips.org with questions.
Paper nominations also accepted using the PDF below. Paper nomination forms must be returned to the Grand Island Public Schools Foundation, Attn: Kari Hooker-Leep, 123 S. Webb Rd., PO Box 4904, Grand Island, NE 68802.
David L. Linder
Class of 1961
Hall of Honor 2003
David L. Linder is a 1961 graduate of Grand Island Senior High and received his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1966, ranking seventh academically among 579 students in his senior class. He completed a master of science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Stanford University in 1968. He served 26 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Mr. Linder is currently senior systems engineer for SPARTA, Inc., in Colorado Springs, CO, and is a certified professional engineer. He is one of the top space and missile defense experts for the U.S. Army and has worked continually on space and missile defense for the Army for more than 20 years. He has been with Army Space from the beginning, from the initial Army Space Study, through the Army Space Institute, to the Army Space Command, and now as a defense contractor supporting the United States Army Space Command (USARSPACE).
He developed the overall master plan for USARSPACE involvement in the National Missile Defense program. Mr. Linder was also the project leader for the USARSPACE program to integrate space equipment into the Army. He has devoted much of his life to ensuring the Army gets the benefit of space and missile defense and has initiated virtually all the major efforts in Army Space. Mr. Linder has vast knowledge of the technology, the procedures, the organizations, and the politics of getting space capabilities into the hands of the troops. He has co-authored several papers and was an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics at the U.S. Military Academy from 1973 to 1979.
