Lander University students from South Carolina, who are juniors or seniors and active in leadership activities on campus, are eligible for a new scholarship established in memory of Mary Alice White Abell, of Greenwood. A 1960 Lander graduate, Abell died on March 4 of this year at the age of 72, and her family created the scholarship to honor her.
Abell was born in Augusta, Ga., and while at Lander, she served as student body president and was elected May Queen in her senior year.
After she graduated, Abell taught school in Savannah, Ga., and Richmond, Va. She was a member and former deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwood, and served as a Sunday school teacher, president of Women of the Church and interim director of Christian Education. A life member of Presbyterian Women, she also served on the boards of directors of St. Nicholas Speech and Hearing School and the Greenwood Family YMCA.
Ralph Patterson, vice president of University Advancement at Lander, said Abell and her husband, Dr. F. Erwin Abell, are longtime supporters of the university and its athletic program. He added, "The Mary Alice White Abell Scholarship is the most recent example of the generosity the Abell family has shown Lander."