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| Alumni couple leave $178,500 to education leadership center
Two UW-Eau Claire alumni, both longtime teachers, have left a lasting legacy to the field of education by investing in the UW-Eau Claire School of Education. The UW-Eau Claire Foundation has received $178,500 from the estate of former Eau Claire residents Clifford and Mollie Rayment for the university’s recently created Center for Collaborative Leadership in Education. “This couple dedicated long careers to the education of rural Wisconsin youth, and we are honored that they chose UW-Eau Claire to carry on their legacy,” said Carole Halberg, UW-Eau Claire Foundation president. “Their gift will give life to the plans for our Center for Collaborative Leadership in Education, ensuring closer partnerships between our School of Education and area public schools — and ultimately continued quality education for the young people of our region.” The Rayments’ estate gift was announced March 4 during Education Celebration 2004, an event to celebrate the profession of teaching hosted by the UW-Eau Claire School of Education. The CCLE also was formally introduced at the event for teachers from the community and the university, students preparing to become teachers and others interested in celebrating the education profession. Clifford and Mollie Rayment both earned teaching certificates from UW-Eau Claire (then the Eau Claire State Teachers College) in the 1930s. Their teaching careers spanned five decades and included positions at schools in Eau Claire, Tomah, Tony, Bruce, Ladysmith and Conrath. Both continued their educations, Mollie at Mount Senario College in Ladysmith and Clifford at UW-Eau Claire, where he earned a bachelor’s degree, and UW-Superior and the University of Minnesota, where he earned master’s degrees. Clifford also served as superintendent of schools in Ladysmith and later as a faculty member at Mount Senario. Mollie Rayment died in September 2001, and Clifford Rayment died in December 2003. Teaching was a calling for all the women in Mollie Rayment’s family, said Mollie’s sister Gladys Johnson of Eau Claire. Mollie, Gladys and their two other sisters all became rural schoolteachers. In addition, their mother and grandmother both were teachers, Johnson said. The family grew up during the Depression on a farm in the Town of Wheaton. “It was during the hard times, but Mom and Dad still sent us to college in Eau Claire,” Johnson said. Clifford Rayment, who was born in Stanley, came from a large family and worked hard to earn his education, she added. “He came to Eau Claire and worked hard for his room and board while he went to school,” she said. Johnson said Mollie and Clifford Rayment were very dedicated to their profession. “That was their main goal, to teach,” she said. The Rayments’ estate gift for the CCLE will ensure that their support for education continues long into the future, said Katherine Rhoades, associate dean of the UW-Eau Claire School of Education and a member of the CCLE leadership team. The CCLE received administrative approval at the university last fall, and its first director will be selected by late spring or early summer. It will be a clearinghouse for arranging partnerships between the School of Education and area PK-12 schools, Rhoades said. It also will identify and secure resources to promote collaboration among undergraduate and graduate students in education, university faculty and staff and professional teachers and administrators in the region. Creating an annual Collaborative Leadership Symposium will be one of the CCLE’s first projects. “The Rayments’ generous gift offers a significant opportunity for the Center to initiate new projects and amplify current ones,” Rhoades said. “The timing of this gift is remarkable because it literally arrives as the Center is taking its first breath. It assures the vitality of the Center and will move it from concept to concrete action.”
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