The Fredericktown High School Alumni Association is pleased to announce the "Art & Beverly Dremann Family Scholarship" will be joining the "Freddies Helping Freddies" family of endowed scholarships to recognize the distinguished careers of Art and Beverly Dremann and their family's devotion to education and the Fredericktown schools.
Beverly Jo Henwood Dremann - Class of 1955
Beverly Jo Henwood graduated from FHS with the class of 1955. That fall she enrolled in a two-year teacher education program at Bowling Green State University. There Beverly met Art Dremann, a 1954 graduate of Brush High School in South Euclid Ohio. In the summer of 1957, they were married in Prout Chapel on campus and that fall the two young graduates began their teaching careers.
Beverly completed her degree requirements at The Ohio State University, and devoted thirty-five years teaching young children at Fredericktown. Most of those years as a kindergarten teacher. In those years kindergarten was a first experience in a setting away from home for most children. Beverly's enthusiasm and willingness to do everything in her ability to help each child, and genuine warmth and devotion to her young charges quickly won the respect of all who came to know her. Beverly traveled the state to visit hospitalized students; she home schooled those unable to attend including one terminally ill. With these attributes, Beverly was quickly recognized as teacher of the year by her peers.
Beverly's devotion to her home town extended beyond the school house. Active in her church, she served as youth fellowship director with Art, co-chaired the annual election night turkey supper and the soup bean booth at the street fair for many years with Barbara Hall, and served multiple terms as Deacon and Elder. She also served many years as a 4H club advisor with Sue James and Ellen Divelbiss.
All of these activities considered, Beverly was equally devoted to her family and extended family. It was not unusual to host 25 and more at family gatherings at Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Art Dremann - A Life of Service
Art came to Fredericktown because Beverly already had a teaching position there when they married. Art spent the next thirteen years with Fredericktown Schools as a teacher and as elementary school principal, thoroughly enjoying his time as a Freddie. During this time, he was also a student, finishing undergraduate work at BGSU in 1960, and a Master's degree at OSU in 1965. In 1971 Art left Fredericktown Schools to complete a one-year internship with OSU. Subsequently he became licensed as a psychologist, and for the next thirty-two years Art worked with special needs children, primarily in Richland and Morrow counties.
But Fredericktown was always home. Art too was active in church, he served as a youth director, Deacon, Trustee, and Elder - twenty-five years as clerk of session. In the larger community, he was a member and president of Lion's Club, and a member and chairperson of the Fredericktown Community Foundation.
Art never entirely quit his involvement with the Fredericktown school district. Early on he began to operate the clock and scoreboard for basketball games when the Taylor Street building served as the district high school. He continued in that capacity for an astounding 62 years. He also ran the football clock and scoreboard for many years. In 2016 Art was honored by the Ohio HS Basketball Assn. for this long and distinguished service. Art and Beverly were named the outstanding Freddie Fans of the Year in 1997. In 1990 Art was first elected to the Fredericktown School Board, serving 18 years, including serving as President or Vice President for many years during the time the current school facilities were conceived, designed, and constructed.
The Dremann Family Legacy
Art and Beverly Dremann together devoted 79 years to working with children in a formal setting and additional time in a variety of ways for the community that became home. Their devotion to Fredericktown and leadership by example, always doing that little extra that exceed expectations, make them role models for all Freddie's and especially those seeking to work with students in an educational setting or with others experiencing special needs.
This award is being renamed the Dremann Family Scholarship to reflect the entire family's career efforts to meet the educational challenges and needs of children in Knox County and surrounding communities. The Dremann daughters, Kathie Dremann Brown, a 1976 FHS graduate, recently completed a career as special needs teacher and counselor at the collegiate and public-school level; and Amy Dremann Bings, a 1979 FHS graduate, will complete a forty-two-year career as mental health therapist, program coordinator, social worker, and instructor in hospital, private school & public school, and university settings. Together the Dremann daughters add 78 additional years of service to the young people of North Central Ohio.
The Dremann Family Legacy
The Fredericktown Alumni Association is honored to accept stewardship of the Dremann Family Scholarship to preserve and share their story with the new and future generations of Freddies