The Social Front of the Work Study Ethic

In the 1940s, Antioch graduate Barry Hollister ’36, Professor of Political Science Emeritus, helped write the Yellow Springs Village Charter. Herman Schnurer, Professor of French, got deeply involved during election times in the 50s and advocated for more liberals on the Village council. John Sparks, Professor of Political Science, also served on Village council and advocated for more integration in the Village. Hazel Latson, Associate Professor of Education Emerita and principal of Morgan Middle School in the 80s, is one of the most recent College employees to serve on Village council.

What has compelled this set of people with busy professional and family lives to commit to the community of Yellow Springs year after year?

When Tom Haugsby was a younger parent living in the Village and his son Christian was old enough to play Gold Cup soccer, Haugsby took his oldest son to register him for a team. At the sign-up table, Haugsby was asked if he would like to be a coach. He remained a coach through his younger son’s soccer years, until suddenly his own children had outgrown the league. “At that point, I had to ask myself, Am I a citizen or am I just a parent?”

Haugsby kept on coaching and eventually served on the Yellow Springs school board for twelve years, becoming more strongly convinced that the citizens of a community have a responsibility to involve themselves in its activities and maintain its vitality. “I do think of myself as an honorary Antiochian,” he said. “I’m marked by the College’s sense of conviction, and many of the things I’ve tried to do in the schools have Antioch’s mark.”

The Yellow Springs Community Foundation was started by a group of Antioch graduates who were in a position to give something back. In 1972, the local Miami Deposit Bank president and Jim Mitchell ’42 were charged with executing the will of the late local statesman Edwin Foos. Foos meant to apportion his estate to benefit the community broadly by giving to the College, the local Presbyterian Church, the Glen and other organizations. Before the estate was settled, Mitchell died unexpectedly, and his wife Dorothy picked four able stewards to act in her husband’s place.

Perry Stewart, the bank’s vice-president, and Hardy Trolander, president of YSI, teamed with Vernay Laboratories president George Asakawa and Phil Aultman, a Xenia lawyer, and decided they would stretch Foos’s intention to benefit the entire community into the future. In memory of her husband, Dorothy Mitchell donated a significant base fund, and the endowment has been giving to the community ever since. Antioch graduate Vicki Morgan was president of the YSCF board when the foundation reached over $1 million in assets.

NEXT >>

[ Top of Page ] [ Top Stories ] [ University News ] [ Campus News ]
[ Alumni News ] [ Book Notes ] [ Class Notes ] [ Obituaries ] [ Antiochian Home ]
[ Fall 2003 Site Map ] [ Send Us Your News ]