Margery Pflughauptso loved the community of Shelbyville that 17 years after moving away, she urged her husband to establish a scholarship fund for Shelby County students that continued for the better part of two decades.

Submitted

Margery Pflaughaupt

With her death last week from Alzheimer’s disease at her home in Danville at age 83, her legacy will live on with all the young people that were able to better their lives because of the generosity of her and her husband, Eugene.

“It really says something that they had left the community and yet to continued to contribute to it, even though they were no longer residents,” said Leon Mooneyhan, a former superintendent of Shelby County Public Schools.

The couple began the Pflughaupt Scholarship Fund in 1995 for Shelby County High School students, originally set at $10,000 in its first few years, but then increasing to $20,000. It replaced a scholarship donated by O.L. and Dorothy Moore, who for decades had given to college bound students.

Eugene Pflughaupt, a member of the Shelby County Board of Education in the 1970s, who described his wife, as a “very sociable person,” said she was the driving force behind the establishment of the scholarship.

“When we read in the paper that the Moores were going to discontinue their scholarship, it was Margery who said, “Hey, we ought to do that,” Pflughaupt said.

Ernestine Jennings, who was in charge of administering the scholarship in its later years, until it was discontinued in 2011, said she thought Margery Pflughaupt’s desire to help young people succeed stemmed from the fact that she had been given a chance at a good life herself as a child and wanted to do something similar for others.

“Mrs.Pflughaupt was adopted, and I think this gave her insight into many needs that perhaps many people might not have,” Jennings said. “The fact that she had been cared for well made her particularly sensitive to assisting others, especially young people.”

Margery Ames Pflughaupt was the daughter of Benjamin C. Ames and Linton King Ames of Fort Smith, Ariz., and was an organizing member of the Shelby County Parks Department and a longtime employee of Donald Chatham.

She and her husband of 62 years have three daughters, Deborah Armbruster  and Sarah McKenney, both of Kentucky, and Julie Boyd of Indiana, as well as six grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

The Pflughaupts moved to Shelby County in 1969, remaining until 1978,when they moved to Minnesota. They moved to Tennessee in 1991, before returning to Kentucky a few years later, to settle in Danville.

 “I remember when they first proposed the [scholarship] idea, they came and met with us at the old central office,” Mooneyhan said. “Both of them are just wonderful people, so supportive of this community and of education. They stepped up to the plate when the first scholarship was running out and was supportive of it all of those years. She was just a delight to meet and to get to know. Her commitment to this community andfor education was just outstanding.”

Sam Chandler, a former principal at Shelby County High School and past president of the Shelby County Retired Teachers Association,and the first administrator of the Pflughaupt Scholarship, described Margery Pflughaupt as a very caring individual.

“Her husband, Gene, was on the board of education the year that I was hired as a principal at Shelby County High School” he said. “When the O.L. Moore scholarship finished up, he called me and asked me to help draw up guidelines for another scholarship they would like to give. That was my first encounter with Mrs. Pflughaupt.

“Marge was a wonderful individual. She really cared about young people and their ability to contribute in a positive way to society. She emphasized that over and over again. She always impressed me as a person who cared very much about students. She took a real personal interest in each one.”

http://www.sentinelnews.com/content/margery-pflughaupt-1928-2013