Sarah Thompson Kaemmerling Fund

This fund, established from the estate of Sarah Thompson Kaemmerling, supports charitable, educational, and scientific efforts—especially in the Canaan Valley, Davis, and Thomas areas of Tucker County—in accordance with her lifelong values of service and generosity.

TYPE OF FUND: Field of Interest

DATE ESTABLISHED: September 2005

PURPOSE: According to the decedent’s wishes, the fund supports “institutions and associations engaged exclusively in charitable, educational or scientific activities for the promotion of science, health, education, good citizenship and the well-doing and well-being of mankind.”

DISTRIBUTION: Upon the recommendation by the Grants Committee and approval by the full Board of Directors of TCF. Preference is given to requests from the Canaan Valley / Davis / Thomas areas of Tucker County.

VARIANCE POWER: If, in the judgment of the TCF Board of Directors, the restrictions and conditions of the fund become unnecessary, incapable of fulfillment or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the community, the TCF Board of Directors maintains the right to modify the terms of this fund.

FUNDING: $136,000 from the estate of Sarah Thompson Kaemmerling.

BACKGROUND: Sarah Maude Thompson was the only daughter of Dr. Albert and Mary E. Blake Thompson of Norway, ME, and later Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Thompson was a dentist who transitioned into the lumber business with his brothers in Davis, WV, forming the Blackwater Lumber Company and later the Thompson Lumber Company. They were instrumental in the economic development of the area during its boom years.

After her brother Frank was fatally shot in 1897, Maude Thompson gave up her musical career—she had studied and taught at the New England Conservatory—and devoted her life to managing the family’s business affairs. She married later in life to Retired Admiral Gustav Kaemmerling, chief engineer on the U.S. Navy Ship Olympia, which saw action in the Battle of Manila Bay.

Mrs. Kaemmerling was known for her modesty, discipline, and generosity. She supported charitable work quietly and with intention, including endowing a public library in her hometown of Norway, ME. Upon her death in 1957, she directed that her estate be used to benefit charitable, educational, and scientific organizations promoting the welfare of humankind.