FOREST CITY – Waldorf College and Forest City Community Schools have decided to name their new track “Beebe Track,” as thanks to Ray and Joan Beebe for their dedication to education in Forest City, Iowa.
“We are extremely grateful for the Beebe’s work in this community,” Waldorf College president Bob Alsop said. “They are dedicated to supporting education at all levels, truly impacting the quality experience and culture of our students.”
Ray and Joan have contributed to the growth and development of both Forest City Community Schools and Waldorf College, including a $200,000 donation for track and field equipment and a full-tuition scholarship to Waldorf College, among many others.
“I’m pleased to see excellent cooperation between the schools, college and community,” Ray Beebe, President of the Forest City Education Foundation and Chairman of the Board for the Waldorf Lutheran College Foundation, said. “We are all in this together, and this track is symbolic of those efforts. We are glad to help in anyway we can.”
Beebe has been involved with the local education foundations for over a decade, and in the past several years he has overseen an impressive increase in donations to both foundations, resulting in an increased number and value of scholarships awarded each year. Two years ago the Beebes established the Raymond and Joan Beebe Family Scholarship through the Forest City Education Foundation, which provides a $10,000 scholarship each year to a graduate of Forest City High School. “We enjoy being able to award scholarships to a few of the amazing young people at our high school as well as to students at Waldorf College,” Beebe said. “We firmly believe the Waldorf experience is changing lives one life at a time, just as it has throughout its long and storied history.”
Ray and Joan Beebe’s lives are centered on supporting and encouraging young people. They have fostered several children personally as well as participated in mentorship activities at Waldorf College and Forest City Community Schools.
“The Beebes are so supportive of the school and our youth – in so many ways,” superintendent of Forest City schools Darwin Lehmann said. “They truly believe in the importance of education and put in maximum effort to ensure our students are granted all things they deserve. The amount of lives they have enriched is unbelievable.”
Lehmann said Ray often challenges him to keep adjusting and improving Forest City’s school system to benefit today’s students, a conversation he appreciates both personally and professionally. “This track and the partnership that it is enhancing between our educational institutions is an extension of Ray and Joan Beebe,” Lehmann said. “It symbolizes the legacy they have created through the things they do, in so many areas, for this community.”
A dedication ceremony will be held on a date to be determined in the spring.
