I guess you could say singing and working with kids is the story of my life,” says Samuel D. Hanger, sitting in his favorite chair in his Ocean City, NJ, home. The purchase of the family’s summer cottage in Ocean City was just one of the many forward-thinking decisions Hanger made during his life, which began in 1928 in Haddonfield, NJ. There, his close-knit family were enthusiastic attendees of Grace Episcopal Church, where Hanger “as a balking teenager” reluctantly joined the choir. Despite his initial misgivings, he ended up loving singing, especially with the accompaniment of a player piano. He continues to sing every Sunday at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Ocean City.

It was in Grace Church’s library that Hanger first learned about Church Farm School, picking up a brochure and thinking its mission seemed worthy. “I knew immediately it was the kind of place I wanted to support,” he recalls. Even though he was only 19 at the time, he slipped a donation in the mail. His generosity to the school has not wavered in 70 years, even making plans for Church Farm School in his will. What’s most interesting about Hanger’s passion for the school is that he has never stepped foot on its Exton, PA, campus. Nonetheless, he is well aware of the joys (and sometimes difficulties) of working with teenagers, both as a public school math and science teacher and a longtime Scout Master for the Boy Scouts of America. As a young man, I drifted around for a while, not knowing what I wanted to do,” Hanger says. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War in the early 1950s. When he returned to Haddonfield, a friend was taking teaching certification courses at Glassboro State College and he was inspired to do the same. After receiving his grade 5-9 credentials, he did his practice teaching at Haddon Heights Junior School. He made a great impression, and was hired as a full-time 8^th grade math and science teacher.

He taught at the school for 25 years, until retiring in June 1984. "I retired for two reasons," he says. “My eyes were starting to give me trouble, and the kids were starting to give me trouble.” He says one of the aspects of Church Farm School that has impressed him the most is the boys’ dress: “They always seem to have the appropriate clothes for each activity. They are expected to look and act like gentlemen. During his teaching years, Hanger purchased a 5-acre plot of land in New Lisbon, NJ. When his parents passed away in 1972, he transitioned to his home in the woods along the Rancocas Creek. His eyesight started to fail in the 1990s, and following a successful double corneal transplant, he moved into his home in Ocean City, which he winterized. Though he hasn’t driven in nine years, he has family and friends always eager to help him get around. His nieces drop by weekly to take him grocery shopping, and a kind neighbor brings him to church to sing in the choir every Sunday.

“I’ve never felt a lack of things to do,” he says. Hanger is enthusiastic about Church Farm School’s “momentous decision” to build its endowment and to transition from animal husbandry teachings to a college preparatory school. “From what I read, every student is being placed in college; many in some of the finest schools. I’ve never once felt my money was wasted. I can’t really explain after all these years why that Church Farm School brochure appealed to me. I just felt it deep in my heart.”

Editor's Note: Mr. Hanger passed away on February 4, 2018, at the age of 89. Our deepest condolences go out to all who knew him. You can read his obituary here.