• • Lakefield Standard

The Teigen family of Jackson recently partnered with the Jackson Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Southwest Initiative Foundation, to create a scholarship fund in memory of the late Kristi Teigen, according to an announcement last week.

The Kristi Elaine Teigen Memorial Scholarship Fund will support Jackson County Central High School graduates pursuing post-secondary education in the form of annual scholarship awards.

Teigen was born July 31, 1954, in Luverne and moved with her family to Jackson in 1963, where she graduated from Jackson High School in 1972. She was a band majorette, trumpet player and good student who got in trouble for chewing gum, asking questions, having fun and always being late. As she entered the University of Minnesota, she was excited about seeing more of the world and finding her place in it.

Throughout her life, education was important to Teigen. She didn’t always like school but she enjoyed learning. She loved animals and pursued a degree in animal science, graduating with honors from the U of M in 1977. College plans gave way to existing opportunities in a difficult economy, and Teigen landed a job as a claims adjustor for an insurance company. Eventually she became a claims manager and negotiator specializing in environmental claims for The St. Paul Companies. She loved the complexity of the issues and the intense study each case required. When she enrolled in law school, her family shook their heads — but she enjoyed that, too.

Teigen and husband Gary Hoffman shared a sense of adventure; they liked skiing, rock climbing and scuba diving. Above all else, they enjoyed flying — both had their pilot’s license — and free falling. They were avid skydivers who often spent vacations meeting and making friends at events around the country. Teigen made more than 1,800 jumps and, for a time, shared the world record with a group of 79 women for the largest free-fall formation.

On Feb. 3, 1991, a small plane with a student pilot and instructor collided with a plane carrying her, Gary and five other skydivers over Osceola, Wis. All nine were killed.

In response to the Jackson Community Foundation’s fall fundraising campaign, the Teigen family contacted Jackson Community Foundation board member Roger Lind to discuss options for honoring Kristi’s memory. Douglas and Audrey Teigen — along with Kristi’s siblings, Cindy, Kari and Tom — established the Kristi Elaine Teigen Scholarship Fund to honor her memory and help Jackson County Central graduates who value and enjoy learning to pursue their dreams and find their place in the world.

The Jackson Community Foundation will oversee the new scholarship fund. For more information about the scholarship and application process, contact Barney Olson at 847-2596 or Roger Lind at 847-3010, or write to the Jackson Community Foundation, Box 114, Jackson, MN 56143.

The Kristi Elaine Teigen Memorial Scholarship Fund was created in partnership with the Jackson Community Foundation and through SWIF’s Designated Fund Program, which offers a variety of options to help donors meet their unique philanthropic goals. Because SWIF is a 501(c)(3) public charity, gifts made to this fund and others at SWIF are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. In addition, donors can give a variety of assets, including cash, appreciated stock, real estate, planned gifts and more. For more information about SWIF’s Designated Fund Program and giving options, call development officer Liz Maiers at (800) 594-9480 or visit www.swifoundation.org/giving.