Charles E. Peachey Scholarship Fund

When Charles Peachey walked into Music Theory class in the fall of 1979, it was like someone had opened a window. Here was someone who soared above freshman fright. Bright, audacious, funny, cosmopolitan, curious, caring. We all wanted to be his friends – and we soon were.

Even on the other side of the world, Charles made people smile in spite of themselves. On SST in China, he picked up a shovel – just to find out what it felt like to be a Chinese construction worker. In Japan, he taught English. But, typical of Charles, he dug deeper – learning as much from his students as they from him: new singing techniques, how to assemble sushi and sashimi, the proper way to express apologies.

Back in Philadelphia, newly married, he plunged into the taxing life of a relocation social worker. He would rehearse with the Philadelphia Men’s Chorus one night and patrol the neighborhood with his wife, Marcy to discourage drug traffic the next.

“Charles Peachey was the essence of Goshen College for so many of us,” wrote one of Charles’ classmates. He embodied possibility. He modeled the inter-disciplinary life. He wanted to know the world and change it for the better. He sang tenor!

Charles died at age 28 of complications related to an unexplained enlargement of his heart. He left behind his spouse of 3 years, Marcy Hostetler (`83), his mother and father, Gwen and Urbane, brother Michael (`86), sister Kirsten and a host of family and friends all over the world who can’t get his laugh or his boundless curiosity out of our heads.