Wausau, Wis. (December 17, 2007) – Ruth Schuette recently received the prestigious Tocqueville Award from United Way of Marathon County in recognition of her and her late husband Marv’s outstanding generosity to the Wausau area. Mr. Schuette passed away in September 2007. Mrs. Schuette became the third person in the history of the United Way of Marathon County to receive the award, and the first person to receive it since 1997.

The United Way’s highest honor, the Tocqueville Award recognizes philanthropists who go above and beyond in responding to the needs of their community, said Joanne Kelly, executive director of United Way of Marathon County. It is named after Frenchman Alexis De Tocqueville, who visited America in 1835 and later wrote of Americans’ generosity in his book, Democracy in America.

“The Schuettes have been extremely generous to United Way for many, many years, and are among our largest individual donors in terms of total giving,” noted Kelly. “We also recognize that they have always stepped forward to help with numerous community programs, especially youth programs. They were selected not just for their contributions to United Way, but also for their concern and willingness to support so many worthy community efforts.”“Marv was like one of those whom Tocqueville saw in an emerging America where an ordinary person could work hard, make money, and enjoy a life of dignity,” Schuette said of her late husband. “But achieving this was just Marv's journey. He moreso wanted to share his philosophy of giving to those who needed help so they could improve their lives and find their own ways to give back to the community. We all need to believe this.”

In addition to United Way of Marathon County, the Schuettes’ long list of giving back includes the Wausau Homes Scout Center, Girl Scouts of America, Lion’s Camp for the Blind, Salvation Army, Special Olympics, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Stanton W. Mead Wildlife Education and Wildlife Center, Humane Society of Marathon County, Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement, and others.

ABOUT WAUSAU HOMES INCORPORATED
Owned and operated by the Schuette family since being founded in 1960, Wausau Homes Incorporated is America’s #1 producer of custom-built homes, and works exclusively with independent builders in local markets. Builders have the flexibility to choose from the Wausau brand’s varied portfolio of house plans, or to have custom plans engineered to their specifications through Sterling Building Systems, a division of Wausau Homes. Based in Wausau, Wisconsin, Wausau Homes/Sterling Builders employs more than 500 people and services over 600 builders from eight facilities located in Georgia, Ohio (2), Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

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