FREDERICKTOWN – The Fredericktown High School Alumni Association announced its 21st named Freddie alumni scholarship: the “Jack and Jean Carter Family Scholarship."
This new, fully-endowed scholarship, which will be first awarded to a 2022 FHS graduate, was funded by Jean Carter and her children Nancy, Tom, and Gary.
Jean Braddock Carter gave the family their Fredericktown roots as a life-long resident and a 1947 FHS graduate. Jean loved school and was a member of the National Honor Society while active in many school and church related functions. She even worked at the local bank part-time during her school years, which provided an important career path later in life.
Jack Carter, who had Gambier roots, was the quintessential good guy, solid citizen and great father who never met a stranger. Jack was well-known and well-liked in the community. Jack and Jean raised their family on a small farm on Route 95 where hard work, Christian values and family time were their priorities. Money was short, but the love was plentiful. Jean, the love of Jack’s life, concentrated on being a full-time mom and was very involved in the community. Jean made sure the family showed up as a unit each Sunday at the United Methodist Church; the kids' school assignments were completed on time; and their lessons were learned and understood. Jean was also an active volunteer at the Knox County Community Hospital, the Methodist Church, the Interchurch and the Fredericktown schools, and even made time for gardening, which was a passion.
The Carter family was disrupted when Jack suddenly passed of a heart attack in 1978 at the young age of 53. Gary, the youngest, was still a teenager, and Tom had just completed his second year of college. Jean stepped up in her time of grief to become the single mom who took the lead as the family breadwinner while encouraging her children to build their own lives. Jean put her earlier banking training to good use and worked another twenty years in the industry retiring in 1999.
Jean is not one to boast, but she beams as she describes her three children and their accomplishments as Freddie students, citizens and parents. Nancy-, FHS ’73, was a National Honor Society student and has excelled in the Health and Human Services profession at Ohio University; Tom, FHS ‘76, was a National Honor Society student, played on the 1975 Freddie regional finalist baseball team and was an architecture grad from OSU who became a successful real estate developer; Gary, FHS ’82, was one of the stars on the 1981 Freddie Hall of Fame football team, is active in the local community and enjoying a successful career in agriculture/business. Jean is quick to point out her children’s best accomplishment is having raised her five wonderful grandchildren.
When asked what the driving force was causing the Jack and Jean Carter family to endow this scholarship; Jean, now 92, said, “Fredericktown is a special place with special people, and we want to help build on that. The teachers and educational system at Fredericktown are excellent and have always prioritized the students first, along with their individual career goals. Fredericktown may be a small town, but its people have large aspirations. We hope this scholarship will help some deserving students to follow and achieve their goals.”
