Alice Kovach Hummer and Larry Hummer
This scholarship was established by Alice Kovach Hummer and Larry Hummer in loving memory of Alice's mother, Lillian Bodes Kovach.
Education and the discussion of ideas were important in the Bodes home. Lillian, the oldest of three girls, was an eager and excellent student. She graduated from the California University of Pennsylvania.
After graduation, Lillian taught grades one through eight in a one-room schoolhouse for an annual salary of $800. Lillian taught all subjects in grades one through eight, including the equivalent of two years of Latin. Five years later, Lillian married Andrew, her beau she met while at California University of Pennsylvania. Andrew joined the Navy, and the couple was sent to Norman, Oklahoma. While Andrew instructed Navy pilots in airplane repair, Lillian completed her four-year degree plus graduate work at Oklahoma University.
After the war, when the couple settled in Hershey, PA, Lillian was active in the educational support group of Faculty Wives at the Milton Hershey School and worked in the Hershey public schools.
Lillian was a courageous lady on many fronts. She championed women's rights before it was a popular cause. She instilled in her daughter, Alice Kovach Hummer, the idea that a woman needs a marketable skill that can provide economic independence. Lillian modeled this through her own pursuit of higher education when it was not the norm.
Scholarships associated with Alice Kovach Hummer and Larry Hummer