It was 1945 when Austrian immigrant Ernest Scheller started an aluminum pigment manufacturing plant in Stamford, Connecticut.

In 1963, he moved the plant to Lansford, later expanding to a facility in Hometown. He called it Silberline, after the German word for silver.First his son and then his grandson joined the family business.Ernest Scheller III, a 1975 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School, was a 1979 graduate of Lehigh University with a degree in chemical engineering. But sadly, Ernest Scheller III would pass away at the age of 40, due to complications from heart bypass surgery, not long after he'd been named president and CEO of Silberline.Monday night, during Tamaqua Area School District's 56th Academic Achievement Ceremony, Ernest Scheller Jr. awarded a $12,000 scholarship in his son's name to senior Tyler Ruch. Ruch will be attending Pennsylvania State University, where he plans to dual major in nuclear and chemical engineering."It's fitting that this award is going to someone who aspires to be a chemical engineer, as our own son was a chemical engineer," Scheller said. "He graduated from here 39 years ago."The scholarship was just one of 60 awards Tamaqua students garnered during the ceremony.Guidance counselor Janet Dolak said that although the majority of the awards were for academic excellence, there are also awards for excellence in vocational skills and extracurricular activities."All in all, there was more than $150,000 given out tonight," said guidance counselor Frank Dickman. "We are the only district in the immediate area that does something like this."Other students who received awards were Miranda Amey, Robert Arner, Avery Banavage, Stephen Billet, Alexis Boyer, Makayla Boyle, Joann Butkus, Carly Fenstermacher, Gabrielle Freed, Stephanie Gensure, Emily Georgis, Kristina Gilbert, Mackenzie Heisler, Bryan Heyer, Derek Hill, Rachel Jones, Nikole Klatka, Michael Kelly, Colin Mashack, Talli Matukonis, Rebecca Minehan, Siobhan Moore, Damian Munoz, Samantha Postupack, Nichelle Pucklavage, Jared Sharpe, Tatiana Shellhamer, Jaclin Valasek, Emily Ward and Jacob Wenzel.