McCrabb: Man who donated $2M to Fenwick HS: ‘I have been blessed and lucky in life’

Yeager, 50, a farmer, said he was raised in southwestern Colorado and his family’s property was connected to an Indian reservation.

As a young boy, he watched as his mother, Carol, a registered nurse, cared for the medical and hygiene needs of the Indian children. Then he saw his father, Barney, who owned a saw mill, assist those same Indian families and help local ranchers build barns.

“They always gave; they did things for people,” Yeager said of his parents. “You help others. You leave this world better than when you found it. That should be a goal in life.”

So it was fitting that Chester’s entire family attended Fenwick’s homecoming football game Friday against McNicholas, the first athletic event held on Yeager Field. The Fenwick boys and girls soccer teams played on the field Saturday, and physical education classes will be conducted there, too.

Now that the grass has been replaced by turf, there will be no need to wash out the muddy and grass-stained uniforms after home games. For that, Fenwick mothers are forever thankful.

Fenwick Principal Blane Collison called the new turf field “transformational” because it will inspire others to make donations to the Catholic school and provide safer playing conditions for student/athletes and physical education students and will reduce the impact inclement weather has on playing conditions.

Vanessa Mosley, Fenwick’s director of advancement, said the Yeager gift has “already sparked interest from other funders.”

The football field is located in the Jerry Harkrader/John “Butch” Rossi Athletic Complex. Before the Yeager donation, the field was named Krusling Field after Fathers Julian and Lawrence Krusling, brothers who served as the school’s two principals. Fenwick will honor the Kruslings by naming its chapel after them, Mosley said.

This is the “first major” renovation to the school and football field since they opened in 2004 after moving from downtown Middletown, Mosley said. The school opened in 1951.

Yeager is an unassuming man who owns farms from Madison Twp. to Eaton. Last week, he bought a 150-acre farm just outside Germantown. He almost seemed reluctant to take praise for his $2 million donation.

“There was a need and we filled it,” he said while sitting in the school’s chapel. “I have been blessed and lucky in life. I want to help. If we all do our part, the world is a better place.”

As he sat there, it was almost as if he was replaying the words his parents said decades before.

“Do what you can and you can leave this place a better place,” he said. “When you look at yourself in the mirror at night, did you do what you could today? Were you a good person? Did you do what you could? If you can answer those questions, you fall asleep at night.”

Chester Yeager doesn’t need any sleep aids.

Yeager Field project work

SOURCE: Fenwick High School