The Edith C. and Philip A. Klinglof Scholarship

Criteria: (Ten Annual $1,500.00 Awards) The Edith C. and Philip A. Klinglof Scholarship will be awarded to students majoring in Education. Applicants must be enrolled full-time.

Edith C. (Klinglof) Gauch ’34 graduated from North High School in 1930 and four years later received a degree in elementary education from Worcester State Teachers College. She taught for a number of years in the Worcester Public Schools and was a guidance counselor at Burncoat Junior High School. Friends remember her as a devoted student and teacher.

She was active in local Swedish organizations and a member of the Central Congregational church of Worcester, now the United Church of Christ. Later in life, she married Warren J. Gauch and moved to Florida. The couple had no children.

Although Mrs. Gauch lived in Florida for many years, she never forgot her alma mater. When she died March 8, 2001, she left the Worcester State University Scholarship Fund through a generous bequest — the second largest the College has ever received from a donor.

Additional bequests indicated that she loved animals (one gift was given “in memory of my many pets who have given me so much pleasure throughout the years”) and that, above all, she wanted to benefit future generations of children. In all, she gave close to $800,000 to scholarship funds and youth programs.

That a large portion of her estate was given to Worcester State University speaks volumes about the esteem in which she held the school. It is also a testament to Edith Gauch’s enduring kindness, generosity, and commitment to future generations.