MSU Extension 4-H

Cass County 4-H alumna Sarah Proctor was a dedicated and talented elementary school teacher for Dowagiac Union Schools for almost 20 years. After losing Sarah tragically in a car accident on Dec. 2, 2022, her parents Terry and Pamela Proctor established the Sarah L. Proctor Educational Endowment at the 4-H Children’s Gardens to honor her legacy. 

“The 4-H Children’s Gardens combine three key aspects of Sarah’s life: childhood education, 4-H and MSU,” said Matt Proctor, Sarah’s brother. “Sarah had a strong passion for educating and helping children to grow and develop.” 

Opened in 1993, the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens was the first garden in the United States developed specifically for the education of young children on a university campus. Funding for the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens is provided by the Michigan 4-H Foundation, through the generosity of donors.  

Growing up, Sarah attended Edwardsburg Public Schools, the Berrien County Math and Science Center and earned two degrees from MSU – a bachelor's degree in child development and a master’s degree in education. A second-grade teacher at Justus Gage Elementary School, she taught and mentored over 400 students in her classroom. She remained connected to 4-H, Cass County Fair, Love of God (LOGmichiana), her church and many other community organizations.  

“One of Sarah’s goals as a teacher included offering real-world experiential learning to her students,” continued Matt. “Learning by doing was an important component in her lesson planning. Hands-on activities and local field trips to reinforce classroom learning were integral parts of her lessons.” 

During her 4-H and college years, Sarah and her mother would often visit the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens. Upon her passing, Terry and Pamela created the endowment for the gardens to provide a lasting memory of Sarah in a place she loved.  The endowment supports the education coordinator position at the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens. By creating this endowment, they hope to continue Sarah’s passion for children’s education and provide a legacy which impacts the lives of students and the MSU community by benefiting area children for years to come.  

“We feel this endowment is a meaningful way to help to carry on Sarah’s legacy of positively affecting the education of children through real-world learning. 4-H was also an important part of Sarah – both as a participant, and later as an adult volunteer – so education at the 4-H Gardens seems a wonderful way to combine interests important to Sarah during her life,” said Matt. 

An endowment is a perpetual fund that is invested. While the corpus is held intact and continues to grow, the investment earnings from the fund are used to support 4-H programs – in this case the 4-H Children’s Gardens. Endowments provide a source of stable income for nonprofit organizations. They can be funded by a variety of assets, including cash, property or securities. Planned or estate gifts can also help grow endowments. 

“Endowed support helps to ensure the future of hands-on science education in the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens and provides a stable environment where both students and educators can learn and grow,” said Jessica Wright, Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens education coordinator. “It is such a privilege to work with people like the Proctors that share a common vision for education. It is donors that build the community and give us the means to share our passions.” 

Growing up as a member of the Country Trailblazers 4-H Club, Sarah was a strong supporter of both 4-H and the Cass County Fair throughout her life. As a youth, Sarah participated in the dairy feeder and cake decorating 4-H projects, but also attended statewide 4-H events like 4-H Exploration Days, which highly influenced her choice to pursue college at MSU. The middle of three siblings, Sarah’s brothers, Matt and Seth, were also in 4-H and had market lambs and rabbits.  

“My sister, brother and I were all raised as 4-H kids and we participated in our local club, the Country Trailblazers for most of our entire childhoods,” said Matt. “We took advantage of many of the opportunities 4-H provided, from making lifelong friendships, to showing at the fair, attending 4-H Exploration Days and even attending Citizen Washington Focus in Washington, D.C. I ended up going to school in D.C., in large part because of my exposure to D.C. from that experience. If I had to choose one thing that I loved most about the 4-H experience, it would be the people and community that I was introduced to. People and community that our entire family has remained connected to for our entire lives.”  

“4-H provides so many valuable opportunities to many different types of kids,” continued Matt. “4-H is an important and safe space for kids to learn and experience the world outside of school and family. It’s a way to meet new people and try new things in a positive environment that is supportive and nurturing. It factored into my and my family’s upbringing and I can confidently say that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my experience with 4-H in my formative years.”  

With her children so engaged in the program, Pamela Proctor eventually became a 4-H volunteer leader. Through their club, they learned the value of community service projects, from cleaning up the fairgrounds to providing meals and items for community members in need. Into adulthood, Sarah remained involved with 4-H as a volunteer, often helping out at the fair and the livestock auction.  

“4-H becomes a family thing,” Pamela explained. “Sarah and I used to stop here at the 4-H Children’s Gardens. We’d be here for 4-H summer events – we likely stumbled upon it at first and came back. I remember the butterfly chair.”  

“Even after Sarah graduated from MSU, we would come back to campus for football games or to the auditorium, but we’d always swing by the 4-H Children’s Gardens,” Terry Proctor added.  

Through this endowment, it is the Proctors’ intent to support the salary of the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens’ education coordinator position and/or to ensure the continuation of educational programs. As a reflection of Sarah’s goals, they hope to allow the position the flexibility to enhance educational and enrichment opportunities for the community and to increase educational access. This includes, but is not limited to, providing experiential learning, educational accessibility, school field trips, and other engagement opportunities with MSU and its surrounding communities to create fun and exciting hands on-learning programs. 

“The four of us were talking about ways to remember Sarah and how to do that. She had friends all over and education was very important to her. Then, the gardens came to mind. This is a really great fit. We liked the idea of ongoing support, which was really important to us. We like that it is going forward and this a great way to do it,” Pamela said. 

Serving over 11,000 children last year, the education coordinator position at the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens is responsible for providing hands-on learning - through field trips, summer camps and special events. Using art, basic gardening skills, scientific exploration and field trips through the gardens, it offers a hands-on way to teach children to explore the wonder of science.  

Terry added, “Sarah’s personality was a lot like Jessica’s. They were more or less the same age. It’s one thing to have the ideas, but Jessica knows what to do with it – it’s a real gift.” 

“To be able to connect this endowment to the position will keep it going even after Jessica retires. We know MSU will be here in the future and expect the 4-H Children’s Gardens will be here. We know personnel will change, but now we know the funds will be here in the future for this position,” he continued.  

Wright has served as the gardens’ education coordinator for 18 years. An MSU graduate with a degree in horticulture, Wright began her work in the 4-H Children’s Gardens as a student intern, two years prior to filling the education coordinator position. 

“I love my work here at the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens because I get to share both my love of science, plants and hands-on learning with our visitors. Seeing kids learn something about plants or our world that they never knew before is so rewarding,” Wright said.  

The family says that Sarah will be remembered as a great teacher, an incredible source of good nature, and a rock to her friends, her family, her students and people in need. She carried a brightness in the face of adversity and lived vibrantly in the present. She was opinionated, unabashedly loud and yet was a great listener. She fiercely loved her family and friends. 

In addition to the gift from the Proctors, the endowment fund was made possible thanks to memorial gifts from friends and family. Additional gifts are welcome to help grow the fund and thus increase the annual support provided for the education coordinator position. To learn more or to contribute to the fund, visit www.sarahproctor.org.