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Jack and Ruth Calder Scholarship Fund
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The Jack and Ruth Calder Scholarship Fund has been created at the Torrington Area Foundation for Public Giving by their family and friends. This permanent fund will provide a scholarship to a deserving graduating senior from the towns of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Litchfield, New Hartford, Norfolk, Torrington or Winsted. The scholarship will be awarded based on financial need, academic achievement, volunteerism/ community involvement, and recognition/ awards.
Jack and Ruth met while students at Gilbert High School in Winsted. Jack grew up in New Hartford, the son of a first selectman. Ruth Avery grew up in Winsted on her parent’s Avery Dairy Farm. Although neither graduated from high school, they placed great importance on education for their children. They married in 1940 and immediately began their family of seven children, later purchasing a home on Blackbridge Road in New Hartford where they lived for nearly 50 years. A WWII veteran, Jack was appointed postmaster in New Hartford in the early 1950s, a position he held for over 32 years. Ruth kept very busy raising the seven children, gardening, canning, sewing slipcovers for the surrounding area, and waitressing in the evening. Jack passed away in 1990, while Ruth lives with a daughter in New Hartford.
Jack and Ruth demanded that every one of their children continue their education after high school, and each child did just that. They continued that legacy with their own children, and those eleven grandchildren are now encouraging their children to further education. From these two loving parents has come a family tradition of stretching to reach educational goals. Many members of the family have become teachers themselves, encouraging generations of children to reach for the stars by reaching for their schoolbooks.
For more info about the Jack and Ruth Calder Scholarship Fund, call the Torrington Area Foundation for Public Giving at 860-626-1245.
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