Woodland School to induct 3 into hall of fame

The Woodland Education Foundation announced three new members will be inducted into the Woodland Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees are John Mortland, Diana (Burkett) Hallam and Paul Webster.

John Mortland

Mortland attended Woodland School throughout his primary education, graduating high school in 1970. He attended Illinois State University. Upon graduating in 1974, he returned to Streator where he worked part-time with the Federal Crop Program as a crop adjuster and helped his father work the family farm. He worked at Streator Implement for six years.

As his dad retired from farming, he took over the farm operation full-time in 1980. He showed leadership in the farming community. As new machines and land use changed, Mortland was one of the first in our area to implement these technologies. Younger and older farmers followed his lead. These ideas helped keep the soil from eroding, the land vibrant and increase crop production.

Mortland and his family have been parishioners at Streator Park Church for many years. He serves on various committees and has held church officers’ positions as well as serving as a church board member. He has served on the Livingston County Regional Planning Committee, the Farm Bureaus Farm Management Board, the Phillips Cemetery Board, Missal Grain Elevator Board and the Woodland School Board. He was on the school board committee that formed the Woodland Education Foundation.

Mortland has always been a leader, whether it was on the football field or basketball court in high school. He continues to give back to the community serving on various boards and committees and community projects. When Woodland School was designed, it was built on his family farm ground. And when American Water Company needed ground for a pumping station to supply a clean and reliable water source to the villages of Long Point and Dana, it was John Mortland who supplied that ground to them. This is just a small portion of his accomplishments and dedication to the community. It is with that great optimism he gained in his early years at Woodland School that has carried him throughout his life.

John and his wife, Pam, have three grown daughters; Kathleen (Zeke) Brown, Rebecca Mortland (Todd French), and Stacia (Brett) Larson. They have four grandchildren.

Diana (Burkett) Hallam

Hallam attended Cornell Grade School and then moved to Streator halfway through fifth grade and became a Warrior. Diana graduated from Woodland High School in 1978. She has four brothers who also attended Woodland. Her husband Dave of 44 years, also is a Woodland alumnus. They have a daughter, Amber, and a stepson, David who are Woodland alumni. Her grandson, Noah is a sophomore at Woodland. Diana helped raise her niece and nephew because of family tragedy. “It was the Woodland family who embraced us at this difficult time.”

Hallam started her career in transportation in 1985, 40 years ago. She drove a bus for nine years and then became safety coordinator for Klines, Ryder and First Student. While there she received Driver of the Month multiple times. She then joined Illinois Central School Bus in 2005 and took on a corporate position as a ddirector of safety and regional safety manager overseeing multiple locations in multiple sites and received an award for safety. She had to deal with audits, ISOS, Osha and IDOT compliance, accident/injury investigations, location opening and closing. Once resigning her corporate position, she came back to her roots of her Woodland family working in the bus department. Hallam is an excellent problem solver for drivers and parents alike. She keeps everyone informed of changes and even will jump in a bus if a driver is needed. She feels it is an honor to be a Woodland alumni and a part of this organization and family.

Hallam faced significant challenges growing up, yet she never allowed her circumstances to define her future. She has always exemplified the highest values of kindness, honesty, loyalty and diligence. Hallam has always contributed tirelessly to her community. In recognizing her, Woodland honors more than a personal success story, it celebrates a life dedicated to service, integrity and the belief that no challenge is insurmountable with hard work and a compassionate heart.

Paul Webster

Webster graduated from Woodland High School in 2004. He serves as the senior pastor of Central Church of Christ in Streator. He dedicated his life to ministry at a Christ in Youth conference he was attending with Central in the summer of 2001. After graduating high school, he attended Lincoln Christian University from 2004 to 2008 graduating with a BA in Youth Ministry. He was ordained at Central Church of Christ in 2008 and served from 2008 to 2019 as the Youth Minister of Havana Church of Christ in Havana. Paul, his wife, Tiffany, and their two children moved back to Streator in 2019 to take the role of Youth and Family Minister at Central which he served in for three years. He then became senior pastor in 2022.

Throughout his ministry career, Webster has traveled many times for mission work in the inner city of Indianapolis and outside the country. He also continually served in several nonprofit leadership roles including ean of high school camp at Lake Springfield Christians Assembly in Chatham (2009-2019), president and vice president of the Illinois Christian Teen Convention (2013-2016), alumni council member at Lincoln Christians University (2016-2022) and president of the Streator Ministerial Association (2023-present).

Webster’s passion is to preach the Bible, making it relevant and applicable to everyone’s life. He strives to put others before himself, works hard for the good of his family and is a servant leader to his congregation and the community. Webster loves mentoring and leading young people to reach their full potential of who God created them to be so they can change the world for the better. This has led him to become a regular volunteer in the local schools of the communities he has ministered in.

Webster is married to his high school sweetheart, Tiffany (Oliver). His family has been a part of the Woodland community for more than 50 years. He is the son of Terry and Janet Webster. Janet has worked at Woodland in various capacities for 30-plus years. His sister, Melissa (Justin) Fink also is a WHS science teacher.

The three inductees will speak to the high school students at an assembly 2 p.m. Friday, April 4. They will be formally honored at a dinner ceremony at 6 p.m. that evening at Mona’s in Toluca.