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Generous grandma helps kids She buys 5 iMacs for grade school By VICKI GUARINO CENTRAL POINT -- A grandmother's gift is giving a boost to high-tech education at one elementary school. Students at Mae Richardson school have five new imacs (Macintosh computers), thanks to the grandmother of four students. The $7,000 gift came from Doris Schmedemann in memory of her husband, Harvey. Schmedemann knew her husband wanted Central Point schools to have more money. The couple had been supporters of bond measures to aid district schools. But Harvey Schmedemann died Nov. 7, 1998, just as the last ballots were tallied and the community learned that a tax measure had been defeated for a second time. "He had wanted so badly for that school bond to pass," she says. "He died, and he never knew." So Doris Schmedemann began thinking about something she could do for the schools in her husband's memory. She decided to buy a couple of computers for her grandchildren's school. Richardson happens to be one of the Central Point district's most crowded schools. Classes are even held in the locker rooms. The bond measure would have funded construction to relieve the crowding. She couldn't do anything about the overcrowding, but she thought a couple of computers would help ease the demands of Richardson's 428 students. But she didn't know how modestly priced computers are these days until she arrived with her checkbook in Principal Kathy Tompkins' office. Tompkins says Schmedemann wrote out one check. Then, after Tompkins told her about a school campaign to put two computers in every classroom, she filled out a second check. Combined, the checks gave Tompkins enough money for the five computers plus some additional equipment. "She called me later and offered to give us a little more money for another computer, but I told her `no,"' Tompkins says. Because of Schmedemann's gift, Tompkins says the school needs only seven or eight more computers to meet its technology goal. Computers have become an integral part of education, says Tompkins, and the lack of access slows kids and teachers. "The computers are tools just as pencils and paper are tools," Tompkins says. Schmedemann let school staff decide which classrooms would get her computers. She says she never considered even asking that the machines go to her grandchildren's rooms. "Oh, heavens no," she said. "It's for the school. And they'll benefit anyway because there will be more computers available for everyone." Schmedemann hopes her gift will prompt more generosity from the community. She says more people should help local schools financially. Even modest gifts can improve education. "It's not just computers," Schmedemann says. "If everyone would sit down and write a $10 check to their district, the schools wouldn't have all the problems they are having. It's something I never realized, either." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA