George Dyer Senter Memorial Fund

George_D_SenterGeorge Senter was involved with education for most of his life.  As a testament to his feelings about the importance of education, in his Will he bequeathed his Estate’s residual funds to the Brunswick Area Student Aid Fund.  George wanted to make a significant, long-lasting, and meaningful impact on local students.  His extremely generous bequest of over $2 million has positioned BASAF to continue its mission of helping students with the ever increasing costs of higher education.

George was born on April 13, 1918. He grew up in Brunswick with his seven siblings.  He attended public schools in Brunswick and also attended Blair Academy in New Jersey, where he was active in school journalism, a member of the tennis team, and from where he graduated in 1938. He attended Brown University as a member of the Class of 1942, but after three years at Brown he was inducted into the U.S. Army to serve in World War II.

Lieutenant Senter served in the Coast Artillery Corps stationed in the Aleutian Islands, first as an anti-aircraft gun unit commander, then as a general’s Aide-de-Camp, and finally as a mathematics instructor for the Army. George was discharged from the Army in February of 1946, but he remained a member of the U.S. Army Reserve until 1953.

After his Army discharge, George returned to Brown University and in 1947 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics.  After college, he briefly worked for a supermarket until he turned to education as his lifelong career. He taught at the New Hampton School in New Hampshire, Peekskill Military Academy in New York, and finally at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.  George remained at The Hill School as a mathematics teacher for 31 years. For many of those years, he was a hallmaster, living in the dormitories with the students.  Many former students have written that Mr. Senter left an indelible impression on them about the importance of individual character. He was completely devoted to, and supportive of, The Hill School for the remainder of his life, and his car bore the Maine license plate “THE HILL”.  In 2005, The Hill School honored Mr. Senter by dedicating a new dormitory as The George D. Senter House.

He spent his retirement years in Brunswick, where he remained interested and engaged in local education, and also served on the Steering Committee of the Association of Bowdoin Friends.

Mr. Senter passed away on July 21, 2011. BASAF and our scholarship recipients are, and will be, forever indebted to Mr. Senter for his vision, support, and commitment to education.