FREDERICKTOWN – The Fredericktown High School Alumni Association is pleased to announce that a fully endowed scholarship has been established to honor the life of 1959 Fredericktown High School graduate Janet Hadley Mather.
The Mather scholarship, which will first be awarded to a 2022 FHS graduate, is being sponsored by her husband, Robert J. Mather, and their daughters, Stacia Kaschak and Kristy Caldarella, who provided the following memories and insights on Jan’s life.
Jan was born on Nov. 22, 1941, in Marietta to John Edward and Bess Blair Hadley. She grew up in Fredericktown, graduating from Fredericktown High School in 1959. Jan furthered her education at Kent State University, where she met her future husband, Robert Mather, in a physics class. They were married in Kent on June 19, 1965. Jan taught school in Ohio, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, and retired from the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in Pittsburgh, PA.
In addition to being a loving wife, mother and friend, Jan also actively volunteered with programs to benefit people. Janet valued education and was instrumental in the founding of the Fredericktown High School Alumni Association’s Permanent Endowment to fund scholarships for Fredericktown High School graduates.
She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Stow, the P.E.O. International Sisterhood, Gamma Phi Beta social sorority and Phi Kappa Phi honorary fraternity. She volunteered at the food pantry at her church and facilitated the founding of Bulldog Bags, Inc., a non-profit weekend food program for children on the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District. Jan also volunteered with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program in the Medications Assistance Program, helping seniors receive access and financial assistance to necessary medications.
In recognition of Jan’s altruism and concern for the well-being of others, her husband and children want to give Jan a legacy that will last for all time by establishing a fully endowed named scholarship that will support Freddie graduates.