Jon Spoerri

The Irvin and Ruth Spoerri Scholarship was established by Jon Spoerri in memory of his parents, Irvin Spoerri and Ruth Roeder Spoerri, who met as students at UWM in the late 1940s (then known as Milwaukee State Teachers College). Jon’s parents were education majors, one in art and the other in music. Following graduation, they moved to Fond du Lac where they enjoyed long careers in the public school system.

Ruth Roeder Spoerri entered what was then Milwaukee State Teachers college in 1943 as a music student. During the war years, she rarely got home to Kohler, WI, which is how she became the first UWM graduate to have lived in a university dormitory for her entire academic career. She graduated in three and a half years.

Ruth met her husband, Irvin Spoerri, before she left MSTC. Irvin was an art major and their departments were side by side in Mitchell Hall. Irvin went on to become the director of art for the Fond du Lac public school system. Ruth worked in education administration in the public schools and served as church organist.