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Pepper Laughon '59, Alexa Durnwirth '11 and Stuart Laughon |
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Ira Lechner '55, Toney Lineberry '96 and Carter Augustine '08 |
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Ray Varner '10, John Vaughan '66 and Frances Vaughn |
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(l. to r.) Sandy Wilson '11, Tia Bryant '10, John H. Clements and
Madison Moore '11 |
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President Lindgren presented Ira Lechner '55 with a token commemorating the 20th anniversary of the
Ira Lechner Scholarship. |
More than 200 people attended R-MC’s annual scholarship dinner, which was held on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 in the Alumni Gym. Recipients of named scholarships and their benefactors gathered together to celebrate the success of the college’s extensive scholarship program.
The event offered an opportunity for the college to give special recognition to three scholarships, each of which celebrated its 20th anniversary. The George and Claudine Watson Scholarship, the Brett O. Trautman Scholarship and the Ira Lechner Scholarship were established in 1988 and have helped countless students attend Randolph-Macon College.
Ira Lechner ’55 attended the dinner, as did one of the former recipients of his namesake scholarship. Toney Lineberry ’96 spoke about the difference the scholarship made in his life. “Ira, thank you,” said Lineberry. “You have inspired me and changed my life and you have also changed the lives of my three children. Your scholarship changed everything. Thank you.”
Brandon Nunnally ’09, a recipient of the Stephen H. Watts Scholarship for biology, gave thanks with an eye on the future: “Randolph-Macon has been a transformative time in my life, and I am thankful for every minute of it,” he said. “Please know that when it is our time, we will carry on this tradition of giving back to the place that has given us so much.”
President Robert R. Lindgren noted the unique nature of the scholarship banquet. “Through the course of each semester, and all through each year, you are all—students and donors alike— connected to each other, but this is one of the few nights in the course of a year when you are physically in the same space, sharing food and conversation,” said Lindgren. “There is something intrinsically special about nights like this that help tie the knot, that help bring together the various strands that bind this institution together so strongly.”
For more information on R-MC’s scholarship program, contact Sarah Hendricks at (804) 752-7352 or at sarahhendricks@rmc.edu.