Fundraiser for Spath Scholarship slated in Fremont

Audra Spath was a mom to anyone who needed a mom. 

That’s how Karlee Spath described the Livingston Manor teacher who passed away earlier this year. 

Of course, Audra really was Karlee’s mom. She was mom to Karlee’s twin, Kara, too. 

And over a 30-year career as an educator in the Livingston Manor school system, Audra Spath was a mom to hundreds of kids who came through her classroom. 

“She was the best hugger in the world,” fellow Manor teacher Barbara Smith recalled. “She would just eat a kid up with her hugs, and they needed that.”

Audra’s loss has been deeply felt both in the halls of Livingston Manor schools and her home in Fremont Center since April, but along with her co-workers and friends, the Spath family is looking to build on her legacy ... and provide a little bit of mom to more kids. 

On October 15 at the Fremont Firehouse, Audra’s husband John, her children, co-workers, and friends have scheduled a blood drive in her memory and fundraiser to officially kick off the Audra Sipple Spath Scholarship Fund. 

The fund will provide a yearly scholarship to one Livingston Manor student who exemplifies the qualities that made Audra someone Smith called “the smiling face in the hallway” at Manor schools and “a doer who got things done.”

The senior will have to carry a 3.0 average and be involved in their community and school just like Audra, who not only taught but served her home community over the years as a member of the Upper Delaware Ambulance Corps, Fremont Cemetery Association and Allan Milk Post 7276 VFW Auxiliary in Long Eddy.

Audra Spath’s death in April was sudden — as Karlee explained, she became sick in February with “very odd and severe symptoms and went undiagnosed for a long time.”

“She was finally diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome where your body’s immune system attacks your nerves,” Karlee explained. “She received immunoglobulin therapy and then unfortunately she passed very quickly and suddenly after finishing her therapy while she was on the road to recovery from a pulmonary embolism.”

Karlee and sister Kara were both attending college at the time, and the sudden loss of their mom is something they carry with them. 

It’s why they’re looking for the October 15 event not just to help raise funds for a scholarship that will carry on Audra’s legacy as the mom to every kid who needs one but also to bring people together to feel the sort of love that Audra brought to the world. 

“What my family has gone through is the perfect example of you never know when it’s gonna happen,” Karlee shared. “ My mom literally went from being perfectly fine to being dead in a matter of months and none of us could’ve ever predicted or expected it. I still struggle sometimes wrapping my head around it. I never thought at 20 years old I would have lost my mom, so I just want people to feel grateful and thankful for what they have and I just want everybody at the event to feel love.”

The fundraiser and blood drive will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on October 15 at the Fremont Firehouse. Raffle and 50/50 tickets will be available. 

Those who wish to donate but cannot attend can send a check made out to the Audra Sipple Spath Scholarship Fund to Barbara Smith, 31 Skyline Drive, Livingston Manor, NY 12758.