March was National Music in Our Schools Month; TSF recognized 13 funds awarded to students planning on a music career

Since its establishment in 1960, The Scholarship Foundation of Wakefield (TSF) has helped thousands of Wakefield residents achieve their goals of an advanced education beyond secondary school.

At its inception in August 1960, the organization had four officers and a 14-member Board of Directors. The first scholarships were awarded in January, 1961 to eight Wakefield students in the amount of $1,550. Since the beginning, the organization has encouraged the establishment of individual endowment funds which provide income for the scholarships awarded annually.

Currently, there are more than 580 funds with an endowment totaling more than $15 million. TSF has a 38-member Board of Directors, one full-time employee, and 30 high school Directors who continue to work to raise funds and administer the funds and scholarships. When each fund becomes permanent based on criteria for the fund when it was established, interest income on the fund can be used for scholarship awards. At the present time, TSF has 559 permanent funds.

Many of these funds have been established in memory of family members, or in honor of local residents, while others are in the names of organizations or other groups, such as neighborhood schools and local organizations. Although the majority of scholarships are established to honor or remember an individual, some funds may designate preferences for awarding scholarships to individual students, i.e. sports, math, engineering, music, public service, etc.

During the month of March, which was declared National Music in Our Schools Month, TSF recognized the 13 funds that have been established to be awarded to students who plan to pursue music as a career or an avocation. One of these funds, the E. Leonard and Ruth E. Bayrd Fund, was named for prominent Wakefield residents who both loved music. Many will remember Lenny Bayrd as the owner of the Trading Post at the head of Lake Quannapowitt on Main Street. He was active in Native American affairs and was a musician and drum major of the Redmen’s Band of Wakefield for many years. Because of their love of music, they hoped that this fund would benefit students who pursue music in their lives.

Two scholarship funds, indicating a preference for students studying music, the John W. Carey Fund and the William W. Russell Fund, were established in memory of two local students who were tragically lost to illness at the ages of 27 and 19, respectively. John lived almost his entire life in Wakefield, starting school at the “Little Red Schoolhouse” and later graduating from Wakefield High School. He was an accomplished drummer and regularly played with his brother, Brian, and several friends. William, also a drummer, was a Wakefield High School graduate and Marching Band member. He had his own jazz band, played in a dance band, was a member of the ROTC Cadet Band and a member of the University of Massachusetts Marching Band.

Other named funds designated for students studying music are the Barbara Jeanne Gile Fund, the Roxanne Giuliano Fund, the Rosina and Edward Mahoney Fund, the Jimmy Muse Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Mary and Gordon Noyer Fund, the Joseph Michael Rich Memorial Fund for the Performing Arts, the James Rizza Scholarship Fund, the Edward Sullo and Patricia O’Keefe Sullo Memorial Fund, the Charles E. and Lillian T. Turner Fund, and the Lee Melody Weeks Memorial Fund. Several other named funds also listed music as one of its preferences.

For more information about TSF, to make a donation to any of our funds or to establish a scholarship fund, please call 781-245-4890, email at tsfofwakefield@earthlink.net or visit our website at www.tsfofwakefield.org.