Three siblings, Neil, Ellen and Susan Postlewaite, made the decision to honor the legacy of their late father, Dean, and their mother, Betty, by establishing a scholarship endowment with Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation. The Captain R. Dean and Mary E. Postlewaite Scholarship Endowment will provide scholarships to graduating seniors residing in Crawford County, Illinois who have been accepted into the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in Urbana, as well as students currently enrolled in the College who are from Crawford County.
Captain Robert Dean Postlewaite was originally from Palestine. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an agricultural degree before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps and then Pan American Airways as a pilot during WWII. Betty, who grew up in New York City, worked as a secretary for Pan American, and then became one of the airline’s first stewardesses when Pan Am launched transatlantic passenger service in the 1940s.
