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Friends of Camphill Special School who have affirmed their commitment to our mission by including the School in their estate plans are considered members of The Carlo and Ursel Pietzner Society.

Richard Strayer and Deborah Nickles

Richard Strayer and Deborah Nickles are founding members of The Carlo and Ursel Pietzner Society. “We love Camphill Special School,” says Deborah, “and we love the children there. We have made so many friends through Camphill, friends for life. We have watched the School grow and change and we want to support its mission always, even after we are gone."

The Society is named in honor of our founders, Carlo and Ursel Pietzner. The Pietzners and their three children first came to the United States in 1961 and made their home in Copake, New York at Camphill Village USA   for adults. In 1963 when “Downingtown Special School” and “Donegal Springs” merged to form what is now Camphill Special School’s Beaver Run campus, Carlo and Ursel moved to Pennsylvania to guide the first “Children’s Village” in North America.

Carlo died in 1986. Ursel resides in Camphill Special School today and is an active force in our community. She is a repository of our past, a steadying energy as we continue to grow, and a loving, grandmotherly presence for us all.

Becoming a Member
of the Carlo and Ursel Society

If you have planned an estate or life income gift to benefit Camphill Special School, we would be pleased to record you as members of The Carlo and Ursel Pietzner Society. Please download this form and mail it to:

Development Office

Camphill Special School

1784 Fairview Road

Glenmoore, PA 19343

Bill and Betsy Herman brought their daughter Sarah Jane to Camphill Special in 1976. The Hermans now have been staunch and generous supporters of our School for over thirty years and as founding members of The Carlo and Ursel Pietzner Society have included Camphill Special School in their estate plans.

Betsy shares this story that shows why our planned giving society honors Carlo and Ursel:

While on a walk up the hill at Beaver Run, Ursel Pietzner mentioned to my husband that if we could no longer afford to pay tuition (then very modest), Sarah would nonetheless continue to be cared for and educated at Beaver Run. For him, that single experience opened up a lifetime of active Board membership (in the School, the [Camphill] Foundation, and the Camphill Association, all dedicated to enabling and perpetuating the selfless attitude so simply and matter-of-factly stated by Ursel so many years ago.