A.B. & Hazel Augenstein Scholarship Fund

The A.B. & Hazel Augenstein Scholarship Fund is Marion Community Foundation’s first multi-year scholarship.

Created in 2009 by a gift from the Hazel & A.B. Augenstein Scholarship Foundation Trust, it supports students from River Valley. The trust was created by the Claridon Alumni Association to honor and memorialize the significance of A.B. Augenstein’s role in the Claridon School community. The Claridon Alumni Association continues to be the main supporter of this endowment fund.

A.B. was a noted local educator, born in Green Camp (1899) and graduating from the former Waldo High School and Ohio Wesleyan University. He taught at his alma mater, beginning in 1929, and served as the executive head of Claridon School until 1962. When it was merged with Waldo, Martel, and Caledonia to form River Valley Local Schools, he became superintendent for the new district, 1962-65.

In retirement, A.B. was a member of the Marion County Board of Education and remembered as a talented athletic coach. So much so, that the football field at River Valley High School was named in his honor and remains thus to this day. His boys and girls teams in the 1930s and 40s were top ranked in the county.

His wife, Hazel, was a native of West Virginia. The couple married in 1923 and raised their family, two sons and a daughter.