Crown Hill Foundation Welcomes a New Member to our Team

Starting in May, the Crown Hill Foundation welcomed a new team member, Tommy Kauffmann, who serves as our Director of Historic Preservation. Hailing from Ohio, Tommy attended Xavier University, majoring in history education. After years of teaching high school history, he has returned to school to finish his Master’s in Urban Planning at Ball State University.

When not working on his master’s program, Tommy likes running, cycling, reading, and writing. He ran cross country and track at Xavier University and continues to compete in half and full marathons, but not as competitively as he used to. Tommy has started cycling more and enjoys challenging himself by finding the biggest hill to ride up, which can be hard to find in central Indiana. The crown at Crown Hill Cemetery has become his favorite place for that in town! Outside of those two activities, Tommy tries to read as much as possible and has a few writing projects.

When asked if he could visit any museum, cemetery, or historic landmark in the world, he said he’d like to go on a cemetery tour in New Orleans, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Tenement Museum in New York City. Closer to home, the next space on his list to visit is the Vonnegut Museum and Library.

When asked about his most meaningful accomplishment — professional and/or personal — so far, Tommy noted on a professional level, he taught middle and high school social studies for 10 years before starting at Crown Hill – history, economics, psychology, and sociology. Meaningful accomplishments happened whenever a student got really engaged in a lesson or suddenly grasped a new concept. Personally, Tommy tried out for the 2016 US Olympic team in the marathon.

Tommy will be working on various projects like tombstone preservation, content production for our Education Director, and researching more of the history and people of Crown Hill Cemetery. Next time you are on site, stop by and say hi to our newest team member.