2008 Honorary Degree
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Her love for music and her joy for teaching have culminated in the Rhinehart family's loyal support of IPFW. Their most recent monetary donation helped finish the university's new music building, which is called the John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center.
Born in Kendallville, Ind., and raised in Fort Wayne, Mrs. Rhinehart attended Indiana University Extension Center at the Dime Bank Building for two years and then transferred to the Bloomington campus for two years, earning her bachelor's degree in education in 1943.
Mrs. Rhinehart earned a State of Indiana license to teach music and English. As a strong believer in the power of education, she began her career as a music teacher at Hoagland and Harrison Hill schools in the Fort Wayne Community School Corporation. She left the classroom after three years to raise her four children with her husband, John.
The Rhineharts instilled their love of music in their children, and although she was no longer teaching students in the classroom, she remained very involved in the community, volunteering at her church where she has now been a member for 75 years, and also volunteering at various charitable organizations, spreading her love of music with her piano playing. She has played at numerous venues throughout the community.
Her community involvement included being a member of the Friends of IPFW, Friends of IU, Women's Reading Club, North Side Alums, Yarnell Study Group and Tri Kappa sorority, a philanthropic group of women dedicated to assisting others through charitable donations of time and money. Mrs. Rhinehart has been active at First Presbyterian Church as a deacon and president of the Deborah Circle.
She is a past recipient of the Paul Schafer Award at IPFW.
After her children were raised, Mrs. Rhinehart became the accompanist for the Canterbury School's Children's Choir, a position that she held for the next 14 years. She has been said to be "unfailingly positive and upbeat in encouraging young singers," according to Jonathan Hancock, the headmaster of Canterbury.
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