George Vogt ‘62 was in his house in Georgia when he had an epiphany.
“I was looking at this wall of books,” Vogt says, “and I thought, ‘Students should have these.’”
Fast forward to this summer. Vogt decided to donate his entire collection of Library of America volumes–more than 400 books–to East Grand Rapids High School on behalf of the class of 1962.
It was a remarkable gift, worth thousands of dollars. The only problem: The books were at Vogt’s house in Greensboro, Georgia, 874 miles from East Grand Rapids. That’s where Vogt’s classmate, Henry “Fritz” Schaefer III, and his wife, Karen (Rasmussen) Schaefer ‘63 came in. They offered to help pay to ship the books to the high school.Now the books occupy an entire section of the high school library. Each book holds a label that reads, “Gift from members of the EGRHS class of 1962 in honor of our outstanding teachers.”
“Personally, my experience at EGR was amazing,” Vogt says. “I had some remarkable teachers. I learned a lot about writing from Bert Froysland. I owe him a debt. Marie Yonkman and Margaret Douse too. I had great French teachers as well. It was a very good college preparatory experience.”
Vogt is a historian who has worked at the National Archives in Washington, DC, as well as directing the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the Oregon Historical Society. Fritz Schaefer is currently the Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the University of Georgia. Karen is a Latin teacher.
Together, Vogt and the Schaefers have made an incredible contribution to EGRHS students now and for years to come, all on behalf of the class of 1962. Thank you!
