Bench Honors Beloved Teacher in a Campus-Wide Initiative

Kathryn Mauck hoped to honor her father’s 35-year teaching legacy at Richmond’s Trinity Episcopal School with a simple memorial bench—but the idea quickly snowballed. 

“We realized there was a need for something greater here at Trinity—something that could become a movement that reflected who my dad was,” Mauck (‘05) told guests at an October homecoming celebration. The discussions inspired plans to radically upscale a small learning garden and push for campus-wide ecological upgrades that embody her father’s passion for introducing kids to environmental stewardship principles and the outdoors. 

The speech launched an initial $75,000 philanthropic campaign to fund the Page Mauck Memorial Garden and Sustainability Initiative. Page Mauck, who was tragically killed in a 2016 car accident, established an unnamed version of the former in 2008 and used it to teach students about pollinators, flowers, fruits, veggies, and herbs. Now, it will introduce new and expanded raised beds, rain barrels, irrigation systems, greenhouse improvements, and an outdoor classroom.   

It’s anticipated that the campaign will create an endowment to enhance sustainability through programs like campus-wide composting, partnerships with conservation groups, and special courses in TES’s Outdoor Program, which Page Mauck co-founded.  

“Page believed in hands-on learning, the outdoors as a classroom, and in students discovering their potential in creative, meaningful ways,” says Outdoor Program Coordinator Michael Stratton. “That’s what this project is all about—not just honoring his legacy, but continuing it.” TrinityES.org

Page Mauck
Michael Stratton (standing), outdoor program coordinator, guides students as they tend garlic and clover plantings in the newly refurbished Mauck Sustainability Garden at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond.

This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue.

Eric J. Wallace
Eric J. Wallace is an award-winning journalist who has contributed to WIRED, Outside, Backpacker, Atlas Obscura, Modern Farmer, All About Beer, and more.