GHS Educational Trust Donation Carries On Chappy Chatten's Work

The Glasgow High School Educational Trust is honored to announce a donation of $10,000 in memory of Aaron Danne “Chappy” Chatten. In making the gift, Lacey Chatten Copenhaver said it included memorials given in Aaron’s name as well as proceeds from the Aaron “Chappy” Chatten Memorial Softball Tournament, which has been held each July for the past four summers.

“Aaron’s passion was community service,” Copenhaver said. “And the GHS Trust memorial will help others for a long time.” 

A 2002 graduate of Glasgow High School, Aaron continued his education at The Art Institute of Seattle for one year and Dickinson State University for two years. He completed the requirements for an Associate Degree in Applied Science in Power Plant Technology from Bismarck State College in 2006 while working for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Peck. This degree enabled him to become a power plant shift operator at the Fort Peck Power House Facility, a job he loved and performed with exceptional competence.

After the tragic death of his daughter Madison Faith Chatten in 2005, Aaron created a foundation in her name and lobbied with the Kids and Cars Foundation in Washington, D. C., to strengthen car safety requirements for children. The Make a Wish Foundation was also a beneficiary of the Madison Faith Chatten Foundation, and Aaron visited personally with many of the Make a Wish families who received its gifts.

Kind, enthusiastic, and generous with both his time and expertise, Aaron was a member of the Elks, the Masons, and the Fort Peck Fire Department. He also volunteered with the Glasgow Minor League Baseball program, serving as both a coach and league vice-president. In 2006, The Montana Trial Lawyers Association honored him with its Citizens Award in recognition of his passion for justice and his passion to improve car safety for children.

The Glasgow High School Educational Trust was established in 1964 by the GHS Class of 1938. Its mission is to help GHS alumni pursue higher education and to purchase equipment and enrichment programs for GHS that cannot be financed within the regular school budget. Interest earned on the trust’s corpus, which now exceeds $4.2 million dollars, is awarded through a semi-annual application process administered by the trustees. To date, the trust has granted over $1.7 million dollars in financial aid to hundreds of different GHS graduates. It has also purchased $190,308.33 in equipment and programs for GHS which benefit all students and the community at large when it attends events at the school or uses its facilities.

Whenever the trust receives donations that total $500 or more in honor, recognition, or memory of a particular individual, a gift is made to a student or GHS in that person’s name. Donations of $10,000 or more entitle the donor to an annual naming opportunity in perpetuity.

Additional information about the trust and the application for student gifts are available at http://www.ghsedutrust.org. 

Anyone seeking more information about the Aaron “Chappy” Chatten Memorial Softball Tournament should contact Jory Casterline or Brenner Flaten. It is a co-ed softball tournament held in Glasgow or Fort Peck the third weekend in July, and it has fielded from nine to twelve teams. New entries are welcome.

The first GHS Educational Trust gift honoring the memory of Aaron D. Chatten is included in those listed below for the Spring 2015 semester.

First-time recipients:

Travis Austin, North Dakota State College of Science, IMO Aaron “Chappy” Chatten; Vanessa Mattfeldt, University of Montana- Missoula – IMO Harold H. and Irene W. Smith; Laurel Wageman, Montana State University-Bozeman, IMO Leonard and Margery Bollinger.

Second time recipient:

Johanna Schultz, Montana State University-Bozeman, IMO Diana Hedegaard.

Fourth time recipient:

Aaron Hartsock, Montana State University-Bozeman – IHO             Janice Hoffmann Kaiser.