The Kathy Dowling Trust recently granted over $55,000 to Greenfield-Central High School, where Dowling was a longtime teacher, counselor and coach.
GREENFIELD — Kristin Fewell knows her friend, Kathy Dowling, is smiling down from heaven, pleased to see her estate is being used to impact lives in the city she called home.
The Kathy Dowling Trust recently granted over $55,000 to Greenfield-Central High School, where Dowling was a longtime teacher, counselor and coach.
“Kathy has always had a heart for kids in need,” said Greenfield-Central’s superintendent, Harold Olin, after the school board formally accepted the donation at its July 11 board meeting.
Dowling served as member of the school board from 2011 to 2021, and was there to witness the board rename its board room in her honor during her last year of service.
Olin said Dowling’s attorney indicated the money the high school received from her estate would be a one-time gift with the possibility of a bit more being added as the donation is finalized.
The money has been earmarked for educational technology and athletics, which were near and dear to Dowling’s heart.
“At this point we are unsure how we are going to use the funds that have been graciously donated, but our goal will be to utilize the funds in a way that has the biggest and most positive impact on our athletic department as a whole. looking at things that we may not have otherwise been able to do or purchase,” said the high school’s athletic director, Jared Manning.
For the school to receive such a generous portion of Dowling’s estate was a humbling experience, said Manning. “It shows just how much our school and our athletic program meant to Kathy,” he said.
Olin said Dowling had a strong passion for Greenfield-Central schools.
“Kathy loved Greenfield-Central more than anyone I’ve ever known, and I’ve known a lot of people who love it,” he said.
Dowling served as a teacher, counselor, journalism advisor and dean of students during her lengthy career at the high school. She was also the longtime girls’ swimming and diving coach.
Her lifetime love of swimming, coupled with her service to the community, prompted the Greenfield Parks Department to rename the city pool in her honor last summer. Dowling had said she was humbled to have attended the ribbon cutting at the Kathy Dowling Aquatics Center last summer.
Before she passed away from a lengthy illness in November 2021, the longtime Greenfield resident made sure part of her estate would go to the community and causes she loved.
“The school was her world,” said Fewell, who was roommates with Dowling in college when the lifelong friends were earning their teaching degrees.
“Kathy loved her students and wanted each of them to achieve their highest potential. She didn’t pick or choose favorites. She loved them all and they loved her,” said Fewell. “She was truly a gift to all who knew her.”
