2003 Scholarship Recipient Wallace Receives Scholarship
Recent Haysi High School graduate Kimberly Hay Wallace was selected as the second recipient of the Haysi High School Class of '61 Memorial Scholarship. Denver Bailey and Sue Counts, members of HHS Class of 1961, attended the high school awards program June 6 to present the $250 scholarship award to Wallace. Wallace, daughter of Mike and Sue Hay and wife of Steve Wallace, plans to attend The University of Virginia's College at Wise in the fall.
The class of 1961 met for its 40th class reunion at Breaks Interstate Park in September 2001. Class members held a "Remembrance Ceremony" for those classmates who have died. The ceremony included the lighting of a candle and reading for each classmate. Classmates who have died include: Harry Arrington, Ellis Branham, Glen Colley, Jackie B. Colley, Bobby Counts, Johnny P. Edwards, Norris Edwards, Lowell T. Jones, William Mondrage, Alex Owens, Lois Puckett Ludowici, Tommy Rasnake, Larry Stanley, Charlie Turner, and Patricia Turner Yates. Those members, who died as a result of heart attacks, cancer and automobile accidents, account for 22 percent of the class.
Those who attended the reunion wanted to find a way to remember their classmates who are no longer living. After much discussion, the class decided to establish a memorial scholarship fund in memory of their classmates who have already died, as well as to make contributions in the memory of those who die in the future. This endowment was created so that a scholarship could be awarded to a Haysi High School graduating senior attending college. The name of the endowment is the Haysi High School Class of '61 Memorial Scholarship Endowment.
This endowment is with the Watauga County Community Foundation and the NC Community Foundation. A scholarship selection committee uses a pre-determined set of criteria to select the recipient from a pool of applicants. Contributions to this scholarship endowment are tax deductible. Letters are sent to donors for tax purposes. In addition, if the donation is given in memory of a certain person, a letter will also be sent to that person's family to let them know that a gift has been given in their memory. Such gifts can be given in lieu of flowers.
Donations are welcome and check should be made out to "Haysi High School Class of '61 Memorial Scholarship Endowment" and mailed to Sue Counts, PO Box 2642, Boone, NC 28607.