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January 22, 2003 |
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Lively spirit lives on with scholarship Yellow Springs High School students should know a little about Martha Dell Cadow, whose family established a new scholarship endowment through the Yellow Springs Community Foundation to benefit one hardworking and well-rounded scholar-athlete heading for college each year. The endowment is a memorial to the spunky Yellow Springs native whose lifelong love for sports and humor bred a spirit that young people would have admired.
Martha Dell Cadow was born in Yellow Springs in 1918 during an era when women were taught to keep quiet and to prefer the indoors. But Cadow was not the kind of person to be held back by convention, say family members and friends who knew that she had always been quite a pistol. Many remember that Cadow loved to swim in the rivers and streams around Yellow Springs, including at the Cascades, John Bryan State Park and other parts of the Little Miami River. Cadow’s younger brother, Warren Dell, recalled that he and his sister often swam down by Grinnell Mill and tried to sneak in two for the price of one at the gate. Famished after swimming, local resident Thelma (Fletcher) Berley recalled, she and Cadow would build a fire in the Glen and bake potatoes to give them sustenance for the long walk home. Cadow was the first person Berley met when she came to Yellow Springs as a young teenager in the early 1930s. Their friendship lasted nearly 70 years. “It was her friendliness that welcomed me to town,” Berley said. “She took care of me when I came to school, and I sort of thought of her as a sister.” Berley played on the Bryan High School girls basketball team with Cadow, who was a forward and the second tallest on the team. Cadow was a good all-around player, said Dell. He and his family would always watch her and support the team, he said. And later, when the siblings learned to drive, they fought over the family’s 1934 Ford Coupe, he said. Cadow left Yellow Springs after high school, moving around the country with her husband and son, but she remained physically and socially active. She volunteered at the public schools and taught youth how to swim in Alabama. The family traveled often and was able to view the country from coast to coast, Cadow’s sister-in-law Pat Dell recalled. Though Cadow stopped playing basketball, she took up golf and could often be found either out on the course or watching golf, football, basketball and other sports on TV. Cadow remained active throughout her life so that when she was living in Florida well into her 70s, she still liked to bike the six miles to and from her country club and shoot a round of golf a few times a week. Cadow also had a few ruffled edges that brought her down to earth and endeared her to others. She started smoking in her 20s, and she had a ribbing sense of humor that bred legends, those who knew her said. In her early 80s, Cadow moved to the Dayton area to care for her sister Blanche. Soon they both moved into Friends Care Community, Cadow in assisted living, her sister in extended care. Friends Care was being remodeled at the time and the thistle bushes behind the facility had grown in a manner that, to Cadow’s mind, was out of control. She and another resident, Mildred Paul, dug up the biggest plant they could find, a five-foot thistle, potted it and presented it, with a bow, to the center’s director, Jeff Singleton. Their not-so-subtle hint was duly noted, and the weeds were removed. Cadow often attended the co-ed softball games at Gaunt Park, where she would talk about the game and cheer and jeer the players, who knew how to take her jokes. “She’d watch our games and give us grief. She was a kidder who knew how to kid,” Singleton said. “Martha always had a smile with a twinkle in her eye that told you to be on your guard.” Though Cadow did not live long at Friends, she made a lasting impression on the staff and invigorated the life at the facility. As a member of Resident Council, she was always coming up with new ideas, Amy Howard, assistant living nurse manager, said. In the spring of 2002, she played a big role in organizing a memorial garden for Friends Care resident Charlotte Drake. Cadow taught her how to golf, and initiated trips to hockey games and to the horse races at county fairs, Howard said. “She was someone who was always wanting to get up and go,” Howard said. “She definitely gave the facility a lot of energy and got people motivated.” Cadow’s death in September 2002 from surgical complications was a surprise to her family and community members, who remember her full of life. “Life was never dull when Martha was around,” Pat Dell said. “We’ve all missed her more than we thought we would.” Establishing an endowment was a way to honor her memory by doing something she would have wanted for her hometown, Cadow’s niece Cammy Dell Grote said. Last year, many members of the Dell family living in Yellow Springs and surrounding areas contributed seed money for the memorial endowment, provided by part of Cadow’s estate. Warren Dell and other community members have added supplemental amounts to fund the $500 scholarships for the first two years and give the $21,500 endowment a chance to grow. Contributions from others are welcome and will honor Cadow and help the community’s youth seek higher education. The Cadow endowment is the only scholarship administered by the Community Foundation for tuition to a two- or four-year college or trade school. The foundation has three other awards recognizing top scholars or top athletes, but the Cadow award is meant to honor someone who exhibits hard work, good sportsmanship, team support and enthusiasm. —Lauren Heaton
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