Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

A newsletter for faculty, staff and students

November-December 2005 • Vol. 31, No. 6

Wilda McMurry endows fellowship fund

Wilda S. McMurry, BSHE ’66, of Las Vegas, Nev., has provided $240,000 to establish fellowship and scholarship funds in memory of her husband, David E. Johnson.

A portion of McMurry’s gift will be matched with $165,000 from the Matching Gift Program to endow the David E. Johnson and Wilda S. McMurry Honors College Fellowship and the David E. Johnson and Wilda S. McMurry Honors College Academy Scholarships. The remaining $75,000 of the gift will be used to create the David E. Johnson and Wilda S. McMurry Endowed Scholarship.

The scholarship and fellowship are designed to attract high ability students, to recognize and honor the people who built Arkansas into a modern state and to increase the opportunities to their descendants to prosper in the future. The Honors College fellowship gives preference to students who have resided in Washington, Benton, Madison, Franklin or Crawford counties in Arkansas for at least three years.

McMurry attended Prairie Grove schools, worked in the research departments of two national food companies, earned a master’s degree at Michigan State University and then went to work or a nationally renowned hospital. “Our parents, Herman and Neva Barnes McMurry, always expected that my three sisters and brother and I would work hard to make the most of the education available to us,” she said. “It disturbs me now to know our country is dependent on French flu vaccines, Chinese rare earths, Filipino nurses, and doctors trained in Grenada. I commend all those from any country who excel…, but we also need to support the talents of those closest to us, so that all of us may continue to thrive.”