James Daschbach was born in 1932, and raised in and near Boston, Massachusetts. After attending public schools, he enrolled at the University of Notre Dame, graduating with a degree in Engineering and a commission in the United States Air Force. After serving three years Active Duty, he stayed in the Air Force Reserves and was employed in the aircraft industry for the next ten years. He returned to academia for his MBA and a PhD in Engineering, and joined the faculty at Notre Dame, where he taught for almost twenty years.
During the time in the aircraft industry, Jim met and married Jeanette Howl. Jeanette was born in 1937, and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, attended Catholic schools thru High School, enrolled at the St Mary’s School of Nursing in South Bend, Indiana (where several of her family members were in nursing), and received her RN degree in 1958.
Jim and Jeanette raised eight children in South Bend, Indiana, until Jim was hired away from Notre Dame to be an administrator with the University of Toledo in 1984. He spent the next dozen years chairing the Industrial Engineering Department before stepping back into a senior faculty position prior to his retirement in 1995. (He also retired from the USAF as a Lieutenant Colonel.)
The couple spent several years more in the Toledo, Ohio area before moving to a rural area in NW Ohio that was better suited for a relaxing retirement, and where the growing set of grandchildren could come and roam free.
Jim and Jeanette became interested in the Wyoming Catholic College based largely on the required period of hiking and learning in the outdoors that is undertaken by each incoming member of the Freshmen class before they begin their academic chores at Wyoming Catholic. Developing “teamwork” for young students was a leading part of Jim’s academic efforts in management philosophy. Jeanette and Jim wish for every Wyoming Catholic College student the very best in their endeavors for a fine education, and hope the young men and women they support through this scholarship will growth in their desires to enjoy life and serve God for the rest of their lives.