Lorraine G. Darnell ’56 of Clarksville, Ark., has made a $20,000 gift to create a scholarship endowment at University of the Ozarks in memory of her mother, Frances W. Darnell ’33, and to honor a legacy of more than 50-years of combined teaching for the mother-daughter alumni duo.
The Frances W. Darnell ’33 and Lorraine G. Darnell ’56 Endowed Scholarship will assist deserving students at Ozarks who are pursuing degrees in the fields of education, medicine or music.
The Darnells taught in public education for a combined 54 years in Arkansas, California and Nebraska. The family has been involved in education for five generations. Frances’ uncle, Foy Carter, graduated from what was then Cumberland College in the 1920s.
Lorraine taught 29 years and retired in 1989 as an elementary school principal and high school band director at the Evening Shade (Ark.) School District. She earned a master’s degree as a reading specialist in the Miller-Unruh Reading Teacher Training Program in California.
Frances earned a degree in economics from Ozarks in 1933 and taught in public schools for 25 years. She died in 1990.
Lorraine said she was able to attend Ozarks because of scholarships.
“In August of 1952, I was living in Searcy, Arkansas,” Lorraine said. “One day there was a knock at the door and there stood Mr. Jim Bell from Russellville. We had sung in the choir together at First Presbyterian Church in Russellville. He handed me three scholarships to attend The College of the Ozarks. That changed my life, so I guess you could say that I’m paying it forward.”
Lorraine’s oldest grandson, Michael D. Belote, recently earned a doctorate in engineering and teaches at the Central Arkansas Homeschool Academy in Little Rock.
For information on setting up an endowment in honor or memory of a loved one, please contact the University’s Office of Advancement at advancement@ozarks.edu or 479-979-1234.
Topics: Giving