Imagine someone launching a teaching career in the late 1930s and still being in the classroom as the 21st century drew near.

That was Violet Laack. She taught in various Calumet County school districts for 49 years, and then spent the next 10 as a substitute teacher. And her commitment to education didn’t end there.

Ruben and Violet Laack

When Violet died in January 2015 at age 97, her estate plan called for a $1.2 million gift to be made to the Violet and Ruben Laack Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Violet and Ruben Laack Memorial Fund of the Chilton Area Community Foundation, a family of funds within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, named for her and her late husband, a former cheese factory owner. The first fund will support annual scholarships to help “high-achieving graduating seniors” from the six high schools in Calumet County and the second will support educational, library, speech, forensics and theater programs in the Chilton area.

Violet learned from her attorney, Kim Rietbrock of Twohig, Rietbrock and Schneider in Chilton, that a charitable fund at the Community Foundation is a way to effectively make favorite causes in your community your heirs.

“It’s just an outstanding way to enable people to give back to their community,” Rietbrock said.

Jan Keuer, one of Violet’s nieces, is just plain pleased with her aunt’s gift.

“I am just overwhelmed,” Jan said. “It makes me proud.” With the scholarships being awarded annually, she said, “Their names will live on for a long time.”

 Read more about Violet and Ruben Laack in our Giving Matters donor newsletter.