Dan and Joanne Frock of Hanover, Pennsylvania, did not attend Catawba College, but their three children did, and all three graduated from the institution. In honor of their children, the Frocks have established a new endowed scholarship at Catawba to assist deserving students.
The Frocks' three children followed in the footsteps of their grandfather, the late E.B. Frock of Hanover, Pa., a 1933 alumnus, a longtime trustee and a generous supporter of Catawba, when they chose to attend the college. The children include Carole Baublitz-Frederick '82 of Hanover, Pa., Julie F. Crapster '82 of Charlotte, and John D. Frock '91 of Littlestown, Pa.
"When Carole went to Catawba, we were very pleased," said Dan Frock. "Then, it was Julie's time to go to college. Julie's first year, she went to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and she didn't care for the city environment ... She had been down to visit to Carole at Catawba and she liked it and decided to transfer there.
"John is a bit more interesting. Out of high school, he went to York College of Pennsylvania for one year, but decided not to return for his sophomore year. I made the mistake of telling him that if he tried it for one year and didn't care for it, that he wasn't obligated to return. He held me to my word and chose not to return at that time. John chose to enter the work force for approximately four years, working for the town Borough and also as a truck driver before realization hit home.
"In '87 during Julie's graduation, John approached me and said, 'I think it's time to start working on my degree.' So, he enrolled at Catawba in the fall of '87 and finished his degree in December of 1990. It made us ecstatic!" Dan continued.
"When John was about to graduate and we could see it in sight, I told Joanne that I just wanted to cover the possibility that if something happened to me and I was immobile, to put me on a stretcher and wheel me into the auditorium, because I was going to see John graduate," Dan recalled. "Now, John's the president of our trucking company. He just wasn't ready for college when we thought he should go."
Dan and Joanne explained that the new scholarship is "sort of a toast to us for getting our three kids through college," but it is also "because our family tentacles reach that far."
"We know how much Catawba meant to my dad and how much it means to our three children," Dan said. "We're helping to keep their alma mater alive and strong.
"My dad saw my three children graduate from Catawba and they were all there when Frock Fields were dedicated in honor of their grandfather."
Dan has set up an endowment fund to maintain Frock Fields. A posthumous gift of $134,000 from the estate of the late E.B. Frock and wife Rebecca was used established to establish the E.B. and Rebecca B. Frock First Family Scholarship fund. That scholarship is presented annually to one or more students from Pennsylvania pursuing a major in Catawba's Ketner School of Business.
Married for 48 years, Dan and Joanne Frock attended rival high schools, but actually met at a teenage hangout called "Danceland" in McSherrytown, Pa. They dated for about a year, got engaged and were married in August 1959.
"I was sure as I could be that she was the one," Dan said of Joanne. "She had the personality."
Dan and Joanne joke that they have been coming to Catawba for so long that people "think he's an alumnus." One year when attending homecomingEvents, Catawba inadvertently had a class of 1962 nametag printed for him.
Dan still works "sort of at my leisure" at the trucking company that he and his older brother, Ed, established in 1982, Frock Bros.Trucking. He and Joanne enjoy spending time together and taking an annual sojourn to Florida in February and March. They are lifelong members of Emmanuel United Church of Christ in Hanover and are the proud grandparents of a brood, which includes four grandchildren and six step-grandchildren.
"When dad received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from Catawba in 1986, all three children of our children were there," Dan recalled. "My dad wasn't a real emotional person; I only ever saw him emotional a few times in my life, but one of those times was when he received that doctorate. When he accepted it, he said, 'I've been asked to tell you what Catawba means to me.' He said this one word, 'Everything,' and he got emotional. Catawba gave him the tools to enter the business world and helped him prepare for many civic duties he performed later in his life.
"By establishing this new scholarship, all I'm trying to do really is keep our family's name alive at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C.," Dan concluded.
Catawba Senior Vice President Tom Childress said the Frock family has created "its own legacy" at the college. "Here is a family whose roots are deep and whose memory is strong. E.B. Frock would be so proud of how his children and grandchildren have continued to nurture the legacy he began at the institution."
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