Memorial Fund Donations

Most bricks, blocks and pavers have been purchased by individuals in their own name, as a gift for a friend, or in memory of a friend or loved one. Some, however, have been purchased by memorial fund donations.

When a memorial fund is established, it is announced in two issues of the Quarterly, the AOSHS newsletter. Donations are accepted for a period of six months, then the fund is closed. The organizer of the fund then determines the use of the monies collected, and completes the paperwork. All donors are listed on the honorees' page in the kiosk program.

To establish a memorial fund, click on the link below to view and print the memorial fund form. If you do not have a printer, you may request a form from the address below.

Click here to open the Memorial Fund Application.

To donate to any fund, please make your check payable to the AOSHS Memorial Fund and put the name of the honoree on the memo line of the check. Checks should be mailed to:

AOSHS Memorial Program
P.O. Box 4312
Scottsdale, AZ 85261

AOSHS is a 50l (c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations are tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.

Current open funds include:

Dale Kverno (Aug 7, 1928 -Oct 25, 2009 ) : Dale was born in Minnesota and did his college work there. He joined DoDDS in 1957 and taught 6th grade at Wheelus AB in Libya. From there he transferred to Hahn AFB in Germany and later taught at Johnson AB in Japan, Newbury AB in England and Spangdahlem and Ramstein in Germany. His last assignment was at Sembach JHS, He retired in Germany and is survived by his wife Anita. (Submitted by James Lenz)  Fund closes Monday, November 01, 2010.

Elizabeth (Betty) Heater (1927 -2009 ) : Elizabeth (Betty) Heater 1927 - 2009 Betty was born in Paulding, Ohio, on November 22, 1927. She graduated from Bowling Green College in 1949 and received her MS degree in Music Therapy and Psychology at Ohio University in Athens in 1957. She taught in Ohio and Florida for 13 years before joining the DoDDs schools in 1965. Her first assignment was at Goose Bay HS, with subsequent transfers to Wagner JHS in the Philippines and Baumholder HS in Germany. In 1970, Betty moved to Upper Heyford HS where she stayed until her retirement in 1991. Betty taught band, choir, music appreciation, psychology, humanities, and other assorted subjects. Her band was in great demand for local parades. She took her choirs to numerous childrens and retirement homes where they enjoyed performing. The many tributes given by former students indicated the lasting positive impression Betty made on them. She had learned to play all the instruments in the band. Her wry sense of humor made her beloved by all students and faculty who came into close contact with her. Betty retired to Palm Harbor, Florida, in 1991 and enjoyed reading, watching sports of all sorts on TV, playing bridge, and was involved in Delta Kappa Gamma, P.E.O., the Order of the Eastern Star, and church activities. In 2002 she developed cancer and was finishing her fourth round of chemo at the time of her death. She was a tough fighter in anything she believed in. (submitted by Iris Schreiber) Fund closes Monday, November 01, 2010.

Jan Beck (1944 -2009 ) : Jan was born on May 17, 1944 in Long Beach, California and grew up in Palos Verdes Estates. She attended college at Oregon State University where she obtained her teaching credential. She began her teaching career in Huntington Beach, California. From there she went to Hawaii and worked with the Head Start Program. In 1969 she joined DoDDS and traveled the world while teaching. She began at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa. The next stop was Germany, where she spent the remainder of her working years. During this time she obtained her Master's Degree and moved from the classroom to administration. Jan ended her career as an assistant principal at Wurzburg Elementary School. She retired in 1999 and moved back to be with her family in southern California. Jan loved traveling. She figured she had been to over 130 cities in more than 30 countries. She enjoyed traveling with her friends and family. Since retiring she visited South America, cruised Tahiti and Alaska, and all over the United States. Other activities included being on the board of the PVP American Association of University Women (AAUW) and being active in the Peninsula Seniors, where she especially enjoyed the exercise classes. Submitted by Ted Edwards Fund closes Monday, November 01, 2010.

Patricia  Mattina (March 4 -July 24, 2009 ) : Pat was born March 4 in Buffalo, New York, in a year she wished forever to keep secret. After her father's death, her mother raised Pat and her three siblings and Pat was very devoted to her mother and family. After graduating from college, Pat moved to southern California with her mother and brother Frank. Pat taught school in Pasadena to special needs children. From there she went into DoDDS where she taught two years in Germany, two in Italy, and twenty nine years in Yokosuka, Japan, much of the time as a reading teacher. After retirement she moved back to Kelseyville, California to be near her brother's family, making many trips back east to Buffalo to visit her sister and other relatives. Pat was an accomplished harpist, a dedicated teacher, and a loving, devoted friend. She spent long hours preparing and working with her students and never gave up on any one of them. She was the first one there to help anyone in a crisis and was always a sympathetic friend. Once you were her friend you were always her friend. She kept in contact with all her friends and is the godmother to many of their children. She had a great curiosity and interest in the world and enjoyed traveling and adapting foreign customs into her life. She never carried a camera but liked to blink her eyes and click a scene into her memory. In retirement, her church and her family were an important part of her life along with her DoDDS friends. In the past few years she was plagued by more and more serious health problems. She passed away July 25, 2009, in St. Helena Hospital. How fortunate we were to have had such a dear friend in our lives. (Submitted by Becky Nelson) Fund closes Monday, November 01, 2010.

Gwen Ross (June 10, 1915 -March 7, 2010 ) : Gwen was born in Spokane, Washington, on June 10, 1915 to Edward and Faye Ross. Her undergraduate degree was in Music and Education from Linfield College in Oregon. She taught high school music in Oregon and served with the Red Cross during World War II. She later earned her masters in Social Work from Smith College. Gwen’s first assignment with DoDDs was in Japan in 1961 as a guidance counselor in the Washington Heights housing area schools in downtown Tokyo and later at Tachikawa Air Base. While living in Japan, she traveled extensively in her little car with map in hand, crossing the Japanese Alps, staying in traditional Japanese ryokans, visiting the hot springs resorts, and eating only traditional Japanese food. On one adventure she climbed Mr. Fuji the usual route and descended another route, receiving extensive coverage in Japanese and American newspapers. Later assignments were to Madrid (where she was also a part-time student at the Prado), Frankfurt, and finally as a district social worker in Heidelberg. Gwen was an accomplished pianist, gourmet cook, and world traveler. Among many other places, she visited Kabul, Tehran, China and the “stans” in Central Asia, as well as Eastern Europe several times during the Cold War. Hong Kong and Bangkok were her favorite destinations. Gwen’s love of fine dining took her to all the Michelin three-star restaurants in France. Gwen retired from DoDDs in 1987 and moved to Green Valley, AZ, where she passed away on March 7, 2010. (submitted by Mary Nell Kuhlo) Fund closes Monday, November 01, 2010.

Doris (Dode) Thorson (1935 -2010 ) : Dode was born in Chicago, but grew up in Spring Grove, MN where she attended grades K - 12. She attended St. Olaf College for one year, then graduated from the U of Minnesota in1958 with a BS in education. She earned her MA in education from Michigan State Univ. in 1973. Dode taught in Minnetonka, MN for two years, and then, in the fall of 1960, she went overseas to the Azores, beginning her wonderful 32 year career with DoDDS. She also taught in Newfoundland, Korea, Okinawa and at several different sites in Germany before entering administration. Dode was instumental in formulating the Middle School Academy workshops in DoDDS-Germany. In 1992, she retired as principal of Giessen Middle School and moved to Sun City West, AZ . Dode joined the board of AOSHS in 2002 and served as secretary for 3 years. She was an active, vibrant woman throughout her career and into retirement. She loved to entertain, and did it graciously and with flair. Dode passed away on May 13, 2010 from complications stemming from surgery. Fund closes Tuesday, February 01, 2011.

JoAnne Mitchell (1943 -2010 ) : JoAnne joined DoDDS in 1967 and retired in 1997. She worked as an elementary teacher, a reading improvement specialist, and a secondary drama instructor. Her assignments were in Turkey, England, Okinawa, Germany and, for the last 17 years of her DoDDs career, in Panama. Theater was JoAnne's passion both as a performer and as director. She was often given awards for both. She was certified as a Theater Director through courses taken at Yale University Drama School and, in recent years, directed shows as the Henegar Center for the Arts in Florida. Just prior to her death, she directed shows at the Vicenza Army Base in Italy where her husband Jerry Brees is assigned as Entertainment Director. Together JoAnne and Jerry produced, directed, staged, choreographed and designed well over 200 shows in their life and theater partnership. To know JoAnne was to love her. She leaves a void in the theater world and in the lives of many. She will be greatly missed. (Submitted by John Pascale)  Fund closes Tuesday, February 01, 2011.

Lenora (Lee) Nagel ( - ) : Lee was born in Lawton, N.D. to August and Augusta Nagel, the fourth of their four children. She spent several years in the Women's Air Corps, stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi. She graduated from Mayville State Teachers College in 1960 with a degree in elementary education and taught in North Dakota until joining DoDDs in 1961. She taught elementary grades K - 6 and, after receiving a MA in Special Education from the University of North Dakota in 1973, also worked with LD students in the elementary grades. During her 29 year career with DoDDs she taught in France, Germany, Iceland, England, Bermuda, Cuba, Japan, and Okinawa. She enjoyed each of the countries and traveled extensively learning about the people and their cultures. Lee retired to Tampa to be close to her remaining family - but not to sit in a rocking chair. She became very active with serveral groups including the National Active and Retired Federal Employees, Manhattan Avenue United Methodist Church in Tampa, and her Winward Lakes commiunity. She maintained friendships with people with whom she had worked and with children she had taught. Her mission was to touch hearts and she did that. Fund closes Tuesday, February 01, 2011.

John Shurtleff (February 1940 -February 2010 ) : John was born in Concord, NH and received his BA in education from Keene State College. Other degrees include a masters (1968) and a doctorate (1973) from the University of Southern California. In 1965, John started teaching with DoDDs in the Azores and later transferred to Germany where he was a teacher, administrator, and labor-management relations consultant. Following retirement from DoDDS in 1992, he served as Senior Lecturer at the University of Kiev, Ukraine in the area of Constitutional Law Reform. He worked as a contractor to the US Army in Sarajevo on five occasions, Kosovo twice, one tour in Saudi Arabia and two tours in Afghanistan. John lost his battle with cancer on February 1, 2010. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Heidemarie Degen Shurtleff, their two daughters and a granddaughter. (Submitted by Dee Edwards)  Fund closes Tuesday, February 01, 2011.

Fred Nakagawa (1920 -December 5, 2008 ) : Fred began his DOD assignment in 1962 at Heidelberg, Germany. After two years, he transferred to Japan where he taught for 24 years. He was based in the Tokyo area and taught at Grant Heights, Tachikawa, and Yokota. Fred was fluent in Japanese, which he learned as a child. Consequently, his extensive experiences, acquired during his years with the DOD schools, produced a rare understanding of the complex Japanese culture. Fred generously provided translations and shared these many experiences with students, parents, and countless fellow teachers in the DOD schools. In addition, he was an activist in his long support of teachers' rights and the advancement of minority rights. While teaching in Japan, Fred developed an innovative math program for his students by introducing the soroban (abacus), which was commonly used in Japanese schools. He received the distinction of being the first foreign teacher certified by a prestigious Japanese soroban organization. Fred's leisure time included not only travel and helping his many friends, but also building model airplanes, sumo, and the opera. During WWII, Fred and his family were sent to three internment camps. They included two current National Historic Landmarks that honor the national significance of the Japanese American experience-- Tule Lake in California (2006) and Heart Mountain in Wyoming (2007). Fred and his family's experiences have been documented in a 2004 book "The Cross on Castle Rock" written by his brother George Nakagawa. In 1988, Fred retired in Seattle, Washington to be near his extensive family. Submitted by Dorothy Wong Fund closes Tuesday, February 01, 2011.

Betty Nicholas (November 5, 1929 -August 13, 2010 ) : Betty received her Bachelor of Art degree in English from the University of Montevallo, Ala., her Masters in Education from Peabody College, Tenn., and a Masters in Guidance and Counseling from Ball State University, Ind. She loved traveling and had the opportunity to visit many exciting places on four continents during her 43 years abroad as an educator with the Dept. of Defense Dependents Schools. While stationed in Tokyo, Japan, and several cities in Germany, she served as a high school English teacher, assistant principal and language arts curriculum coordinator. She made major contributions to the implementation and support of an innovative writing program and a carefully designed teacher curriculum development program. After retirement in December 1999 she coordinated a high school student foreign exchange program in the Sarasota area. She was a lifetime member of the National Council of Teachers of English, Phi Delta Kappa Professional Fraternity in Education and the American Overseas School Historical Society. (submitted by Ann Bamberger) Fund closes Sunday, May 01, 2011.

Shirley Erben (June 24, 1928 -February 14, 2010 ) : Shirley went to school in Ohio and graduated from Ohio University. She taught in San Jose, California, before joining DoDDS. Her overseas teaching assignments included Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and Woodbridge, England. She passed away in Ipswich, England, and is buried in Dayton, Ohio. Fund closes Tuesday, February 01, 2011.

Lois Shook (June 20, 1921 -June 28, 2010 ) : Kubasaki High School lost a 'legend' on June 28, 2010. Lois Buckingham Shook was a business teacher at Kubasaki starting in 1949 until she retired in 1979. In addition to her teaching duties she also served as custodian of the school's activity funds. Lois was born June 20, 1921 in Fairfield, Iowa, the oldest in a family of 12 children. She graduated from Fairfield High School and then from Parsons College in 1943. Before going to Okinawa (by ship!), she taught in Iowa. While at Kubasaki HS, she also taught evening business classes for the military. She met her future husband Jim when he was assigned the task of driving the Jeep for the women (in addition to his teaching classes). They were married in 1952. Lois hosted many new teacher get-togethers at their home on Okinawa - she was a true mentor for many first-year overseas business teacher. In 1979 Jim and Lois retired to Sun City West, AZ, and were very active in the Desert Palms Church. They traveled extensively in their early retirement years, and enjoyed attending the Kubasaki High School and DoDDS teachers' reunions. We shall miss you. (submitted by Sandra Hope) Fund closes Sunday, May 01, 2011.