Each year, there are several scholarships given to students at Newton Community High School, and while some are from businesses and organizations others have a very personal story behind them. While many may know some of the stories behind the scholarships, we realize not everyone does.
The first scholarship we will be highlighting is in honor of Mary Francis. When asked to tell me about Mary, her sister Jessica states, “Mary… She was the baby in our family. She married Brandon and they had 2 beautiful children. Brenly and Brady. Brenly was 4 and Brady 16 months old when she passed away. They were her life. She couldn’t wait to be a mommy. She was such a wonderful mommy. She enjoyed every minute with her kids. She rarely went out or left them with babysitters. She wanted to be with them all the time. She was an RN. Most recently working at Richland Memorial Hospital. She worked in their same day surgery dept. she was a very compassionate and kind nurse. At her funeral visitation several of her past patients came and told us stories of how wonderful she was and how she took such good care of them.”
She also states, “We decided to start a scholarship in her name after we knew Brandon and her kids were ok. We spent most of our time and effort on them. Now that they are ok we wanted to spread her compassion and kindness to others. We chose to give a $500 scholarship to a NCHS senior entering in the medical field just like her. That is the only requirement. The application is simple. She actually received a similar scholarship her senior year and was very appreciative of it. And made the best of that opportunity. We also plan to give additional money ($500)to an organization/group in our community every year as well. We have big plans to spread her compassion and kindness in our community not just a scholarship.
We plan to have one big event each year. Our Jeep run this year was very successful and we are very thankful. We will keep everyone posted on any new events on her Facebook page Simply Mary.
Mary was such a giving kind soul and we just want to bring something positive out of this whole tragedy. It has almost been 5 years and we just don’t want her memory forgotten”
