Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation is pleased to announce that Valerie Wright has been named the recipient of the 2021 Captain R. Dean and Mary E. Postlewaite Scholarship. This is the third year the Community Foundation has awarded the scholarship since it was established in late 2017.
Valerie is a 2021 graduate of Robinson High School. She plans to study agriculture science at Murray State University.
The Captain R. Dean and Mary E. Postlewaite Scholarship Endowment provides scholarships to graduating seniors and alumni of the high schools in Crawford County, Illinois who are pursuing a degree in agriculture or have been accepted into the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) in Urbana.
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.
Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation manages more than 180 affiliated funds for the immediate and long-term benefit of communities in southeastern Illinois. For more information, contact Amanda Lessley, President/CEO of Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation, at 217.342.4988 or amanda@enrichingourcommunity.org.
