Helen died on November 4, 1978. Here is information about a scholarship that was started up in part in honor of Helen.
Thurgood Marshall Trust Fund honors
former resident, helps Stuart students
By Gloria Pearlstein
Barcroft News Staff
You may have noticed that your recent homeowner association fee notice let you include contributions to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Trust Fund along with your annual homeowner fees. The Trust Fund is a tax-deductible charity that honors former resident and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall by providing scholarships to J.E.B. Stuart seniors who contribute to racial and social tolerance.
Justice Marshall lived in Lake Barcroft from 1968 until his death in 1992. In 1993, Ralph Smalley, a current Lake Barcroft Association board member who lived several doors away from the Marshall family on Lakewood Drive, had the idea of establishing a scholarship fund in Justice Marshall's memory. The fund, set up as a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charity, now has a core endowment of more than $55,000. The fund is administered by Chris Lawson and managed by Smalley for the Lake Barcroft Association. Interest and dividends from the endowment are used for each year's scholarships.
Smalley says it is "highly unusual to find an endowment fund of this size that benefits a public high school." He says that about $40,000 of the fund amount came from large contributions by the Helen Calkins Memorial Scholarship, set up to honor a young Lake Barcroft woman who died in a fire, and from a few Barcroft residents. Says Smalley, "A few people have given very generously, but it would be wonderful if the majority of the people in this community would give $25 a year. It's a way for a conspicuously affluent community to reach out to less affluent neighbors."
The fund supports scholarships for up to three J.E.B. Stuart High School seniors each spring. Mary Jo Larson, who chairs the Lake Barcroft Marshall Scholarship Committee, explains, "To compete for Thurgood Marshall scholarships, J.E.B. Stuart High School seniors must demonstrate a strong combination of leadership, academic achievement, extra-curricular effort, civic commitment and need. In addition, applicants submit a 250-word essay indicating their contributions to racial and social tolerance at school or in the community."
The Marshall Scholarship Committee works in cooperation with the J.E.B. Stuart Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) Scholarship Committee, whose members include Barcrofters Jan Rasgus and Kari Kelly. The Marshall Scholarship Committee reviews all applications for the Thurgood Marshall scholarships and notifies the Stuart PTSA Scholarship Committee of the student(s) selected. Any students not selected by the Marshall Committee are considered for other community and PTSA scholarships.
Cecilia Marshall, the wife of Thurgood Marshall, still lives on Lakeview Drive. She calls the Marshall scholarship program "a wonderful endeavor" and adds, "I admire what Lake Barcroft people are doing in memory of my husband."
Tax deductible contributions may be made to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Trust Fund, Lake Barcroft Homeowners Association, 6425 Lakeview Drive, Falls Church, VA 22041. For additional information about Thurgood Marshall scholarship activities, see the Lake website, www.lakebarcroft.org or contact Mary Jo Larson at symmetryintl@earthlink.net or 703-642-5554.
Recent scholarship winners
Following is a list of recent Thurgood Marshall scholarship winners by school year, the amount of each scholarship, and the school attended by each winner.
2002 James Ha $3,000 Columbia University
2002 Ritu Narula $3,000 University of Virginia
2002 Ayda Taye $3,000 George Washington University
2001 Thuy-Lan Phan $2,000 Northern Virginia Community College
2001 Ana DeVillegas-Decker $2,000 Radford University
2000 Tuan Khoi Nguyen $2,000 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
1999 Raul DeVillegas-Decker $2,000 College of William and Mary
Mark Fitzgerald (1973)
Helen passed in a house fire and I believe the year 1977 or78, so young... so sad!Abigail Calkins (Aguirre) (1980)
Helen died on November 4, 1978. Here is information about a scholarship that was started up in part in honor of Helen.
Thurgood Marshall Trust Fund honors
former resident, helps Stuart students
By Gloria Pearlstein
Barcroft News Staff
You may have noticed that your recent homeowner association fee notice let you include contributions to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Trust Fund along with your annual homeowner fees. The Trust Fund is a tax-deductible charity that honors former resident and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall by providing scholarships to J.E.B. Stuart seniors who contribute to racial and social tolerance.
Justice Marshall lived in Lake Barcroft from 1968 until his death in 1992. In 1993, Ralph Smalley, a current Lake Barcroft Association board member who lived several doors away from the Marshall family on Lakewood Drive, had the idea of establishing a scholarship fund in Justice Marshall's memory. The fund, set up as a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charity, now has a core endowment of more than $55,000. The fund is administered by Chris Lawson and managed by Smalley for the Lake Barcroft Association. Interest and dividends from the endowment are used for each year's scholarships.
Smalley says it is "highly unusual to find an endowment fund of this size that benefits a public high school." He says that about $40,000 of the fund amount came from large contributions by the Helen Calkins Memorial Scholarship, set up to honor a young Lake Barcroft woman who died in a fire, and from a few Barcroft residents. Says Smalley, "A few people have given very generously, but it would be wonderful if the majority of the people in this community would give $25 a year. It's a way for a conspicuously affluent community to reach out to less affluent neighbors."
The fund supports scholarships for up to three J.E.B. Stuart High School seniors each spring. Mary Jo Larson, who chairs the Lake Barcroft Marshall Scholarship Committee, explains, "To compete for Thurgood Marshall scholarships, J.E.B. Stuart High School seniors must demonstrate a strong combination of leadership, academic achievement, extra-curricular effort, civic commitment and need. In addition, applicants submit a 250-word essay indicating their contributions to racial and social tolerance at school or in the community."
The Marshall Scholarship Committee works in cooperation with the J.E.B. Stuart Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) Scholarship Committee, whose members include Barcrofters Jan Rasgus and Kari Kelly. The Marshall Scholarship Committee reviews all applications for the Thurgood Marshall scholarships and notifies the Stuart PTSA Scholarship Committee of the student(s) selected. Any students not selected by the Marshall Committee are considered for other community and PTSA scholarships.
Cecilia Marshall, the wife of Thurgood Marshall, still lives on Lakeview Drive. She calls the Marshall scholarship program "a wonderful endeavor" and adds, "I admire what Lake Barcroft people are doing in memory of my husband."
Tax deductible contributions may be made to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Trust Fund, Lake Barcroft Homeowners Association, 6425 Lakeview Drive, Falls Church, VA 22041. For additional information about Thurgood Marshall scholarship activities, see the Lake website, www.lakebarcroft.org or contact Mary Jo Larson at symmetryintl@earthlink.net or 703-642-5554.
Recent scholarship winners
Following is a list of recent Thurgood Marshall scholarship winners by school year, the amount of each scholarship, and the school attended by each winner.
2002 James Ha $3,000 Columbia University
2002 Ritu Narula $3,000 University of Virginia
2002 Ayda Taye $3,000 George Washington University
2001 Thuy-Lan Phan $2,000 Northern Virginia Community College
2001 Ana DeVillegas-Decker $2,000 Radford University
2000 Tuan Khoi Nguyen $2,000 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
1999 Raul DeVillegas-Decker $2,000 College of William and Mary
-- Compiled by Mary Jo Larson