Sept. 9, 2008
Denfeld Alumni News

Bill Westholm, Greater Denfeld Foundation board chair, and Ed Crawford, Denfeld principal, with an enlarged check at the news conference announcing Armond Hauge's donation.

Greater Denfeld Foundation receives $3.2 million gift

The Greater Denfeld Foundation announced today it has received its second multi-million dollar gift. The late Armond H. Hauge, a graduate of the class of 1946, left the foundation $3.2 million to fund scholarships for Denfeld graduates.

Hauge spent his life in Duluth as a service technician at Sterling Motors, which later became Ryland Ford. He found success in real estate and stock market investments.

“He taught himself to live on half of what he made,” said Julaine Netzel, Hauge’s niece and a 1965 Denfeld grad. She said her uncle starting saving early in life from the money he made delivering daily newspapers in Duluth.

“He believed in education for everyone and wanted to help kids go to college,” she said. “He was all for education.”

Netzel attended a news conference this morning in Denfeld’s media center with her mother, Betty Hastings, who is Hauge’s sister. Hauge never married and had no children. He died on Dec. 15, 2006.

The terms of Hauge’s bequest indicate the scholarships may pay for the costs of many forms of post-graduate schooling, including trade and vocational schools, colleges and universities, and graduate and professional schools.

The Greater Denfeld Foundation now has assets of over $6.5 million, managed by US Bank.

Claude Lutzka, the foundation’s treasurer and a 1953 Denfeld grad, said annual scholarship amounts paid out in recent years have ranged from $120,000 to $150,000. That amount will likely double, starting with the class of 2009, Denfeld’s 100th graduating class.

The Greater Denfeld Foundation was established in 1972 by Denfeld alumni and teachers. Its first award was a one-year scholarship for $150. Since then, over $700,000 has been awarded.

The original goal of the foundation was to raise $250,000, and by 2001 it had assets of $175,000. That was the year longtime Denfeld teacher and 1925 graduate Marie Saltwick bequeathed $2.7 million.

Then, an even larger gift of $4.5 million came following the death of Denfeld alum Jack Moon in 2001. A Duluth attorney, Moon graduated with Hauge in 1946 and was also involved in real estate investments. His gift is managed separately by Northland Scholarship Services, which provides scholarship administration for Wells Fargo, trustee of the Jack W. Moon Trust.

“The allegiance that alumni have for this school is amazing,” said Ed Crawford, Denfeld’s principal. “Our students are extremely fortunate to have such committed individuals who give so much back to their high school. I think it's reflective of the love that many of the alumni have toward Denfeld.”