She taught at Springboro High School for just seven years. But when Patricia McCandless died in 2018, she left her entire estate to the high school.
“We’ve been asking ourselves, ‘Why? Why Springboro High School?’ ” Scott Marshall, communications coordinator for the district said in a release.
Marshall talked to local news organizations and community members, trying to find people who knew McCandless, who worked for the district when the building was called Clearcreek High School.
After speaking with some of McCandless’s close friends, he figured the answer had to be the late Ray Perez, a former school superintendent and an early teacher and mentor for McCandless.
Former superintendent may have inspired career in education
McCandless had Perez as her sixth-grade teacher at Anthony Wayne Elementary and then again as her senior homeroom teacher at Franklin High School. He was also the advisor for the Future Teachers of America Club, which McCandless joined her sophomore year.
After graduating high school in 1957, McCandless earned her bachelor’s degree in education from Miami University. Perez was the one who hired McCandless to work in Clearcreek Local Schools in 1961. She taught English there until 1968, before leaving to get a master's degree in library science from Indiana University.
“While never stated by Ms. McCandless, that we could find, it’s the opinion of friends close to Patty that Ray Perez giving Ms. McCandless her start at Clearcreek High School was the reason for Patty’s gracious donation to SHS all these years later,” Marshall said. “You couldn’t ask for a better example of paying it forward.”
McCandless's estate is $471,644.01 in total. The district received the money in June and is currently assembling a committee of administration, staff, community members and McCandless's friends to determine exactly how the money will be distributed over the course of the next several decades, Marshall said.
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