Bill (brother of Ruth) and Carleen Wehage and daughters. (Photos provided)
Notre Dame Academy has received a $1.995 million bequest from the estate of one of its alumna, Ruth Wehage Schroer ’38.
With the exception of previous gifts made to Notre Dame Academy from the Sisters of Notre Dame, this is the largest individual gift ever made in support of the all-girls college-preparatory high school.
The gift will support Notre Dame Academy’s Excellence Without Boundaries – Empowering 21st Century Women Capital Campaign and will establish the Ruth Wehage Schroer Scholarship.
Notre Dame Academy invited Ruth’s surviving family members to a special ceremony Monday where NDA President Dr. Laura Koehl announced the news of the $1.995 million bequest to the NDA community.
“As an Notre Dame Academy alumna, Ruth Wehage Schroer clearly lived the mission of her alma mater by making a difference in the world,” said NDA President Dr. Laura Koehl. “Ruth’s generous gift will help generations of students receive an NDA education in a 21st Century learning environment.”
Ruth Wehage Schroder
In line with Ruth’s enthusiasm for education and libraries, her gift will support the addition of NDA’s 21st Century Collaborative Learning Center. This collaborative learning space will support the new and innovative ways that NDA students utilize a library to access online resources and collaborate with others to problem solve and create new ideas.
Ruth Wehage Schroer graduated from Notre Dame Academy in Covington, Kentucky in 1938 and attended Xavier University Evening College. Ruth married Ralph Schroer in 1942 and the couple moved to Cocoa Beach in 1958 where Ruth worked as an executive secretary for NASA Kennedy Space Center aircraft operations. Ruth was a Charter Member of the Church of Our Saviour where she served as a Eucharistic Minister and past president of the Catholic Women’s Club.
Ruth was also a devoted volunteer and passionate supporter of the Cocoa Beach Library. She retired from NASA in 1975 and volunteered as a tax counselor for the elderly until 1996. Ruth’s husband of 57 years passed away in 1999. On November 21, 2015, Ruth passed away at the age of 95.
About Notre Dame Academy
Notre Dame Academy is a Catholic college preparatory school of nearly 600 students located in Park Hills, Kentucky. The ONLY all-girls school in Northern Kentucky, Notre Dame Academy has embraced the mission of educating young women to make a difference in the world. The school was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1906 and has celebrated more than 100 years of faith-based education in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Through the integration of academics, arts, and athletics, Notre Dame Academy achieves a high rate of success for its students with virtually 100 percent of its graduates going to college. NDA has been recognized twice by the US Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. NDA has more than 9,000 alumnae who live and work in fifty states and nine countries. For more information about Notre Dame Academy, go to www.ndapandas.org.
