Honoring Dr. Walter Anglemeyer
A memorial scholarship fund at the Community Foundation started with a letter and then a phone call.
Dr. Walter Anglemeyer wrote a letter to the Nappanee Conservation Club. He was in his early 90s and had been a longtime member of the club that formed in the 1930s to promote conservation and shooting sports. His letter stated how much he appreciated the club as a longtime hunter and gun collector.
Gus Feiler, a Nappanee businessman who respected Dr. Anglemeyer, had the idea of doing a competitive shoot at the club. He called Kenny Yoder and Dan Hummel to help him put it together.
Dr. Anglemeyer, age 93, was at the first shoot in 2021. He gave a rousing speech and fired the first magazine. Each of the 10 shots from the pistol hit the target. Then others, including Dr. Anglemeyer’s son Wally, competed in rifle and pistol shooting and shotgun shooting of clay pigeons on the 11 acres of the club.
“We pulled it off,” says Feiler.
After the shoot, he and Dr. Anglemeyer met to discuss what to do with the money raised by the shoot. “We talked for a long time,” says Feiler.
The two agreed that a scholarship to a local student interested in pursuing a vocation related to conservation would be a good way to use the money.
Gus Feiler shows the target to Dr. Anglemeyer at the first shooting classic. Dr. Anglemeyer, in the months before his death, hit the target with all ten shots.
Dr. Anglemeyer died in October 2022, a few months after the second Dr. Walter Anglemeyer Shooting Classic. He had delivered more than 3,000 babies during his time as a family doctor, starting in 1959 and retiring in 2007.
The shooting competition is raising money for scholarships, as well as the Nappanee Boys & Girls Club, young people attending C.O. Mollenhour Conservation Camp, a pheasant farm youth shoot, and the NorthWood High School Trap Team that now competes in shooting as a varsity sport. The money supports local students.
The competition is likely to continue funding a scholarship or two every year, but Feiler wanted to ensure that Dr. Anglemeyer’s legacy continues in other ways.
After a conversation with Community Foundation board member Todd Cleveland, Feiler and Wally Anglemeyer contacted the foundation for help in setting up a scholarship fund that would endow annual awards to local students.
The fund is growing. Those on the Dr. Walter Anglemeyer Scholarship committee, including Feiler, Yoder, Hummel, and Wally Anglemeyer, hope it can soon support two more scholarship awards annually, in addition to ones funded by the shooting competition. “If we can get the fund built to $100,000, it will be self-funding for two scholarships a year,” says Feiler. “The generosity of people has certainly helped a lot.”
The first winners of the Dr. Walter Anglemeyer Scholarship are (holding checks) Isaac Simmons and Kate Wendzonka. Also shown (from left) are Kenny Yoder, Wally Anglemeyer, Mark Hummel, and Gus Feiler.
The conversation about scholarships excited Dr. Anglemeyer. Awarding scholarships is also a rewarding outcome for those who work so hard to put together the shooting competition. Hummel and Yoder, in particular, spend hours planning and staging the shooting classic. Yoder admits that he thought Feiler’s idea of a competitive shoot was crazy when the first call happened.
After four years, and with all of the money raised going to help young people, they laugh about it together. All involved are pleased with how effort is connected to generous results. The event and the scholarship take a lot of work. “It does feel good,” says Feiler.
Hummel is proud of how the conservation club is helping support the trap team at NorthWood. The club and team both emphasize safety and responsibility in a fun activity. “It’s got to be fun or they don’t do it,” says Hummel.
Mark Miller, a Nappanee metalworker participating in the shoot, calls shooting and hunting “clean fun.” Dr. Anglemeyer was his doctor and mentor and he’s pleased with how the event honors him. “I think about Doc all the time,” says Miller.
This story appeared in the 2024 Annual Report.
