Retired Illinois Valley Community College counselor Kathy Notbohm of Tonica recently created an endowed scholarship through the college Foundation.

Notbohm’s $5,000 scholarship will award single parents; preference will be given to survivors of domestic violence.

Notbohm retired from full-time counseling at IVCC in 1997 after 28 years. Before IVCC, she was a resident advisor at Northern Illinois University and for six years prior to that a junior high and high school physical education and health teacher in the Dundee School District.

She grew up on a farm near Mount Vernon, Iowa, and attended a one-room schoolhouse. Her mother Eloise was a teacher and her father Rudolph a farmer. She earned a bachelor’s from the University of Dubuque and a master’s from NIU.

Notbohm served on the board and was a volunteer for the domestic violence shelter in Streator, ADV & SAS, now known as Safe Journeys. She was one of the first two women to become volunteer “Red Coats” at the former Illinois Valley Community Hospital and also helped the hospital’s social work department.

She delivered food for the Illinois Valley Food Pantry and served as a trustee for Tonica’s village board. While wintering 16 years in Casa Grande, Az., she volunteered to drive elderly individuals to doctor’s appointments and collected items to take to the recycling center.

Regarding Notbohm’s scholarship, IVCC President Jerry Corcoran said, “It is so gratifying to see another philanthropic retiree give back so generously to our college. At $5,000, Kathy’s award will be life-changing for a single parent.”

To create a Foundation scholarship, contact Fran Brolley, Executive Director of Community Relations and Development, at (815) 224-0466 or [email protected].