As you may know, at the reunion in early October, we decided to create a class of ’63 Scholarship which we named the Charley Blackmore’s Class of ’63 Scholarship in honor of all the work Charley has done for all of us. The idea came up on the tour we were given by Greg Grupe, an assistant principal at Hickman. He mentioned a scholarship named for a teacher from our day that requires a 3.0 or higher GPA. I asked if we could name it for Charley and require less than a 3.0. Mr. Grupe promptly pulled out a twenty and gave it to me, saying he wanted to make the first contribution.

Charley and I and some others then talked to Mr. Grupe privately, giving back his twenty, and receiving his suggestion that we make “service” the main requirement of a scholarship. The school now has a “hall of fame” where male and female students are picked each year for scholastic accomplishment, for athletic accomplishment, for fine arts, and for service. He pointed out there is no scholarship presently that recognizes service.

As I thought about it that day, I realized that would be perfect for a scholarship with Charley’s name on it, so I suggested setting one up that night at the party at the Country Club. Everybody seemed to like the idea and some pledged some money toward it.  You know who you are.

With the idea in place, David Griggs, David Curtis, Charley and I met on the 21st to hammer out criteria which Charley is making available on the web site. We went to the school to get some guidance on format. At that meeting, Greg Grupe dropped in, and his twenty is again the first contribution to the fund. I think that demonstrates how valuable Charley is to the whole Hickman community and that we do get instant credibility by putting his name on the scholarship.

Our goal is to get enough funds together by the end of this school year to fund at least two $500.00 scholarships for a boy and a girl. We would like to see the fund grow over the years so that we can do better than that. Stay tuned for information on leaving something to the fund in your will, or other kinds of giving that we haven’t thought of yet. Also, think of the person in whose memory or honor you might like to make a contribution. Mine is in memory of Leo Behrens.

Make your check payable to Hickman High School so it will be tax deductable. In the note portion or lower left corner of the check notate “CBC ’63 Scholarship” and the name of the individual, if you choose to make your donation as a memorial. Send it to Charley in Columbia to make sure the money gets where it is supposed to and to make sure Charley has the information on who is giving and in whose honor a gift is being made so that he can put that information on the web page. He assures us he has no interest in knowing the size of the donation, other than to keep a running total and accurate information on the webpage.

Please look back on the good times you had at Hickman, all of you had at least a few, and remember how unique and special it is just to be a Kewpie, then do what you can for this scholarship fund so that we can be remembered as something other than the last beanie wearers.

Thank you for your attention to this. As Charley would say, “With Kewpish Regards”

Sincerely,

George Johnson