Marlowe and Bess Kiplinger have lived in Ashland County all their lives. Marlowe was born in Sullivan Township in 1915 and Bess was born in Mansfield in 1919. For his fourth year of high school, Marlowe rode the “kid wagon” drawn by a team of horses to Homerville, and he noticed and admired a beautiful 8^th grader named Bess on that same wagon. They later courted and married after Marlowe served four years in WWII. Marlowe has written a book about his personal experiences during the war.

Mr. Kiplinger’s life was spent in education. He received his Bachelor’s from Ashland College and his Master’s from The Ohio State University. Marlowe’s teaching career began in 1937 at the ThomasSchool and later at Montgomery School. When he returned from the war, he taught and served as principal at Nankin and PleasantStreet Schools. Later, he became the Elementary Supervisor and finally the Curriculum Director of the Ashland City Schools. He retired from education in 1975. Bess enjoyed volunteering at the Ashland County Historical Society and gardening for many years. Mrs. Kiplinger passed away in April 2005.

Because Marlowe and Bess had no children of their own, they wanted their assets divided in several different ways. They wanted to support potential leaders, the college that helped Marlowe receive his own education, and they wanted to provide for the less fortunate in Ashland County.

Marlowe noticed that the ACCF Board was made of qualified leaders and he felt that the management of the organization was on solid ground. He had heard about the Foundation and read about it in the newspaper and it seemed like the perfect answer to his dilemma of what to do with his estate. Dr. Ford worked with his attorney to take care of all the legal details so that the money he and Bess had worked for and saved would go on helping people in AshlandCounty in perpetuity.

Prepared 2005