Ferrari, Doris Gene Alber Scholarship Fund

Donor Fund Story:

Even as a little child, growing up in Wawaka, IN, Doris Gene LeCount Alber Ferrari wanted to be a teacher.  Not a big surprise as all of her siblings and one aunt were teachers. She started her teaching career in Avilla, IN (1946) with a three-year permit.  She proceeded to graduate in 1947 from Manchester College, North Manchester, IN with a B.S. degree majoring in education and minoring in art.  In 1948 a position opened up at Ligonier Elementary School where she taught until 1952.  She took five years off from teaching to have a family.

In 1957 she returned to her job part time at both Perry Centralized School and Cromwell teaching art at both schools.  In 1958-1959 she taught a combined first grade and second grade class at Northside Elementary School in Ligonier, IN.  In 1960 she accepted a full time position at Ligonier Elementary School, Ligonier, IN where she taught first grade. She was widowed in 1970, but continued to teach first grade until she retired in 1978.

She remarried in 1978 after her retirement and moved to San Antonio, TX where she currently resides.  Her passion to help children learn to read continued in Texas where she did volunteer tutoring at Lockhill Elementary School, San Antonio, TX and then later through the San Antonio Education Partnership program that her husband started through USAA in conjunction with the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) to support students in the low income schools in that district.

In 2008 she established the Doris Gene Alber Ferrari Scholarship Fund through the Community Foundation of Noble County.  The Scholarship is for West Noble High School graduates pursuing a post-secondary degree in education. The first scholarship was awarded in 2011.