James & Nancy Reynolds

Marian and Donald Turner knew the value of education and encouraged their family to get the best and most education possible. Marian’s education began with a year of Normal Training in Chatfield before she began her 28 year teaching career in 1935 at the age of 18 in country schools. After 6 years of teaching, she took off 12 years to raise a family. In 1952 she returned to country schools for 3 more years before she took a fifth grade teaching position in the Chatfield Public Schools while working on further training at Winona State Teacher’s College where she received an Associate of Arts in 1954 as well as a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 1959. That was not enough, so she continued her education at Winona State College in Library Science and became librarian and media coordinator at Chosen Valley High School (Chatfield). Both their son and daughter graduated from Winona State College, Don earning B.S. (1965) degree in Biology and Math and M.S. (1969) degree in Biology, and Nancy earning B.S. (1966) and M.S. (1970) degrees in Elementary Education. Donald didn’t have the opportunity to attend college, but he often worked more than one job to make sure his family was educated. He worked a variety of jobs in his lifetime, but ended his working career in the U.S. Post Office as Postmaster in Chatfield, MN.

During their careers, both Marian and Donald touched the lives of many people in Chatfield. The Nancy M. and James R. Reynolds Scholarship in Elementary Education, in memory of Marian I. and Donald L. Turner is a way to continue their legacy of valuing education by reaching out and helping others.

Scholarship contacts are Jim & Nancy.