Bucks
Katie Stauffer Memorial Fund
Dear Friends,
Good morning. “Katie was every mother’s dream child,” Linda Stauffer began as she told her tragic story to the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation’s (LVCF) board of governors last week. I serve on that board and listened to her portrait in philanthropy. Katie Stauffer’s family and friends will be thinking about her especially on Saturday (March 8) because five years ago, she died in an automobile crash.
She was only 19.
Katie was a pre-med student at Swarthmore College. In addition to being an academic superstar, she was a champion swimmer, writer, and concert pianist. Rachmaninoff was her favorite composer. She won countless academic awards at Quakertown High School. At Swarthmore, Katie holds the record in the 200-yard freestyle event. She was on the varsity track team as a pole-vaulter.
There wasn’t a dry eye in that room as our board heard her mother talk about her daughter. “Katie wanted to make a difference,” Linda Stauffer continued. “I’ll make a difference for her.” She wore a T-shirt with a picture of Katie.
Linda created a memorial fund for her at LVCF. In May, the Katie Stauffer Memorial Arts and Cultural Center moves from its modest Richlandtown location to downtown Quakertown. The center is renting space at the former Quakertown Drug store at Second and West Broad Streets and plans to be open for Quakertown’s Day of the Arts (on May 17). The formal grand opening will be on June 24…Katie’s birthday.
Linda
conducts six classes for children and eight classes for adults each week. The
topics vary from drawing and painting to ceramics and photography. It will be
fun to see creative activity at the new headquarters. You can reach her at
Linda was an art teacher at the Easton public schools until her retirement. As a child, she was attracted to the art world at the Baum School of Art, a short walking distance from her home. “Art was my escape,” she said.
Linda has created a website for her daughter, www.KatieStauffer.org. In it, you’ll see her 21 high school and college academic awards. She was the valedictorian at QHS. And she won 13 athletic awards as well. I was impressed with her essay on being a teen…you will be too.
“The key to Katie’s success was being an avid reader,” Linda added. A poster, which Katie drew, still hangs in the teen room at the Michener Library. “Explore your world, read a book,” it reads.
Katie fell in love with Swarthmore as soon as she saw it. “This is the school for kids that love school,” she observed.
What do you say to a mother who’s lost a child?
“Just knowing that people remember Katie gives me comfort,” Linda answered. “It’s so important to keep her memory alive.”
That’s why
Linda established a memorial at the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation. For
more information about how to remember a loved one, I recommend either calling
Carol Henn, the Executive Director at LVCF (610-266-4284) or the Bucks County
Foundation (Linda Goodwin, Executive Director at
The papers Katie wrote are remarkable for one so young. I was impressed with her thoughts about addiction, abuse, depression, eating disorders, teen pregnancy and stress. You can read them on her website.
“We used to talk about Quakertown being so athletically and musically able,” Linda said as she described conversations with her daughter. “The [public] school has great opportunities if you’re a gifted athlete, or you have musical talent in band or voice. But there’s nothing offered in the arts other than once a week, during the elementary school years. And there’s nothing in art that kids can walk to.”
That is, until this May.
Linda showed me a book containing Katie’s awards, writings, and photos. It must weigh two pounds and is three inches thick. She excelled at everything she tried. I thought of a book which my friends at the Penn Foundation gave me several years ago. “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” (by Harold Kushner) is a little book worth reading (only 148 pages).
“Katie was the kind of kid who’d put her arms around you and say, ‘I love you Mom,’ ” Linda Stauffer told me with tears in her eyes. My eyes well up when I think about her story.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith