Partner Partner Content 50 years, 50 stories: Morse B. Barker Memorial Scholarship
When Morse "Bunny" Barker died in 1982, his sister, Virginia Brousalis, honored his memory by establishing the very first scholarship fund at the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. Since 1984, the Morse B. Barker Memorial Scholarship Fund has awarded nearly $1 million in scholarships to more than 1,500 students.
Helping Hundreds of Local Students Attend College
Those who knew him remember Morse “Bunny” Barker as a generous man who believed in helping young
people. When Morse died in 1982, his sister, Virginia Brousalis, honored his memory by establishing the very first scholarship fund at the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. Today, AAACF manages 43 scholarship funds that annually award nearly $150,000 in scholarships to support local students’ continuing education.
Virginia’s approach to creating an enduring legacy for her brother was simple but powerful: do good, help others, and keep it going. She asked that Barker Scholarships be awarded to students who are residents of Washtenaw County and attend Cleary University or Washtenaw Community College – or to graduating seniors from an Ann Arbor public high school who plan to attend either school. Determined to help as many students as possible, Virginia made additional contributions to help grow the Fund and left a generous bequest through her estate plan.
The first Barker Scholarship was awarded in 1984. Since then, the Fund has provided nearly $1 million in scholarship aid, helping more than 1,500 local students receive a college education. Jamal Dallal, a 1999 graduate of Huron High School, was one of those students. “Without that help,” he says, “I probably wouldn’t have been able to continue my education and ultimately earn a graduate degree. The Barker Scholarship made a big difference in my life.”
One of the many ways the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation supports all that is good in our community.
Read more “good” stories at: aaacf.org/stories
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