The Remy-McCollough Family Trust
By Maura Teynor
February 26, 2019
Life’s circumstances, experiences, and fortunes inspired David and Therese Remy to give back to their community. They established The Remy-McCollough Family Trust at the Richland County Foundation in memory of his parents.
His father, Lewis F. Remy, was a home builder and realtor while his mother, Janice B. McCollough Remy, was mostly a stay at home mom but went to work in order to pay for David’s college tuition.
“I am so full of gratitude for my life and want to share it. The community was good to my parents. My wife and I set up this donor advised fund as a way to memorialize them and pay it forward in perpetuity,” said David.
His parents were high school sweethearts and met at Madison High School. They married in 1947 after his dad returned home from serving in the Air Force during World War II. When his father came back, he wanted to go to college but abandoned the idea and ended up working for David’s grandfather at City Loan in the Collections Department for a couple of years.
Lewis Remy eventually ended up working as a finish carpenter and then a home builder for Modern Builders. Later he went into business for himself and began selling real estate in the 1960s.
He was very active in the community and served on the Mansfield City Planning Commission, Regional Planning Commission, Mansfield Board of Realtors as well as a Washington Township Trustee.
He had an aptitude for mathematics and engineering and surprisingly, he was artistic. He carved wooden ducks, birds, miniature carrousel horses, and turned wood to craft plates and bowls.
Janice Remy, who was also very artistic and a very good seamstress, went to work in the Mansfield Clerk of Courts Department in order to fund David’s tuition at Ohio Northern University for undergraduate and law school.
David was born with infantile cerebral palsy and esophageal dysphasia. He spent the first several months of his life in Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. Growing up, he was not coddled because of his physical disability. He worked construction with his father; hauled block, spread gravel and pulled nails.
“My parents completely allowed me to participate in a lot of things including sports. They believed people with disabilities could live a normal life,” said David. “They encouraged keeping up on physical therapy and agility to my maximum ability,” he added.
Dave’s wife and her sisters were adopted as children by Dr. Albert and Elaine Voegele. Terri has an affinity to help children.
“With our donor-advised fund, Terri and I would like to give children the spark and opportunity to better themselves,” said David.
They would like to help several nonprofit agencies including those that serve disadvantaged children and people with disabilities.
David Remy currently is the City of Mansfield Public Works Director. He is an attorney whose career includes tenures as the City of Mansfield Law Director and Human Resources Director as well as working in the Richland County Juvenile Court, Mansfield Municipal Court, and Mansfield Law Director’s Criminal Division along with running a private practice for many years. Terri Remy worked for O’Sullivan’s Wine & Cheese Store, in the Mansfield Clerk of Courts Office and as a CASA (court appointed special advocate) volunteer in Juvenile Court.
