Fesenmyer Family Creates Scholarship at
Pitt-Bradford as Anniversary Gift

By Kimberly Marcott Weinberg
Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing


It’s not surprising that a former schoolteacher should have a scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

Thanks to her family, now Dorothea Fesenmyer will have two.

Fesenmyer’s husband, Howard, and children have established the Basil and Harriett Gildersleeve Memorial Scholarship in memory of Dorothea Fesenmyer’s parents.

The scholarship is a gift to Dorothea Fesenmyer in honor of the Fesenmyers 60th wedding anniversary. An earlier scholarship, given by the Fesenmyer children, honors Howard and Dorothea Fesenmyer.

In addition to Howard Fesenmyer, donors for the $5,000 scholarship gift are the couple’s children and their spouses, R. Michael and Susan Carlson of Georgetown, Texas, David and Cindy Fesenmyer of Imperial and Judy and Jon Kirk of Olean, N.Y.

The Gildersleeves were lifelong Bradford residents and attended school in the building on campus that would later become the Roman Villa restaurant, which was where Blaisdell Hall stands today.

Basil Gildersleeve was an oil producer, and Harriett Gildersleeve was secretary for the family. Basil Gildersleeve was also a pilot and kept a plane at the Harri Emery Airport, which is now the site of the Pitt-Bradford campus.

The couple had four children – two sons and two daughters.

The Fesenmyers met while studying at Clarion University, where Dorothea Fesenmyer was studying education and Howard Fesenmyer was studying on the GI Bill.

The couple were married on Aug. 19, 1950. They celebrated their 60th anniversary at a party with family and friends on Aug. 19, when Dorothea Fesenmyer was presented with the scholarship gift.

The Fesenmyer family’s gift will be matched by the Agnes L. and Lewis Lyle Thomas Scholarship Challenge.

The Thomas Scholarship Challenge matches the amount of any gift between $5,000 and $50,000 given for scholarships. The commitment can be paid over five years.

For more information on the Thomas Scholarship Challenge, contact Joelle Warner, manager of donor services at jaw104@pitt.edu or (814)362-5104.

Pictured, Basil and Harriett Gildersleeve, parents of Dorothea Fesenmyer

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