Dr. William L. & Marietta B. Mahaffey Scholarship

The FHS Alumni Association is pleased to announce that a fully endowed scholarship has been established to honor the lives of Dr. William L. & Marietta B. Mahaffey.

Dr. Mahaffey and his wife Marietta grew up in Mount Vernon. Marietta was born in 1904 and was a nurse and office manager for Dr. Claypool when she married William. William was born in 1906 and went to Kenyon College and obtained his MD degree from The Ohio State University.

After William's graduation they moved to Fredericktown and started a General Medical Practice out of their home on Sandusky Street, where they remained for over 25 years. The medical office was in the home and consisted of a dispensary, an examining room, a waiting room and a three bed surgical suite for tonsillectomies. When we three children were old enough, we would assist in treatments. Our father would close the office for 3 to 4 days a week during the summer to spend time as a family on Lake Erie.

Fredericktown, as a small farming community, was tight knit and revolved around a one building school and four churches. Most students went through 12 years with the same classmates. The community was simply too small to house prejudice.

Our parents love for us and our nurturing in a community like Fredericktown is what makes us what we are today. Our parents knew that the community of Fredericktown allowed them to follow and manage our growing up. Our parents always warned us that everyone in Fredericktown would know what we did wrong, before we did.

It takes time and experience to realize and reflect on how really special our Fredericktown years were. This small scholarship, hopefully, will allow another age of "Freddie's" to continue their journey with education based on the values of a Fredericktown foundation.