Meet Our Donors
On behalf of Scattergood Friends School, we would like to thank all of our current donors for their generosity and support. Here are some of their stories.
Robert Berquist
(Pictured with his wife, Sara Berquist)
Bob Berquist was a teacher and gardener at Scattergood from 1946-1979, teaching history, government, Quakerism, Old and New Testament. Prior to that time, he was involved as a tutor and mentor at the Scattergood Refugee Hostel in 1940-41. His wife, Sara, was equally devoted to the school. She was the school nurse, the business manager for the farm, was highly involved in meal preparation and in preserving garden produce, and oversaw the school's crew system. They came to Scattergood on their honeymoon and stayed until retirement. Sara died in 1985. In the 34 years that Bob spent living on the campus, and in the 24 years of his retirement only 2 1/2 miles away, he maintained a deep and abiding commitment to Scattergood, to all the people who had been associated with the school, and to the hundreds of trees that he planted on campus. There was not a day of his life after 1946 that Scattergood was not in his thoughts, especially after he took on the role of being Scattergood's resident historian at the time of the school's centennial in 1990. Bob edited the history of the school, and wrote a section of that book. In the years that followed, he assisted scholars of all ages as they researched Scattergood, the refugee hostel, Iowa Quakers, and even genealogical searches.
So, it came as no surprise that when Bob died in November 2003, he left the largest portion of his estate to Scattergood. He wants to see the Scattergood opportunity be available to students for long into the future, and it is our hope that his gift will help that to happen.
- Carolyn Berquist DeHority
Margie Figgins '83
Email Margie here
Director of Development
