A woman who has been making donations to the University of Calgary for 50 years is our Inspiring Albertan this week.
The University of Calgary celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this month and it also celebrated its longest-standing donor.
When the university started up in 1966, a young widow was looking for a way to honour her late husband.
Robert Paugh passed away just a few years after graduating from the University of Alberta’s School of Engineering. His widow Margaret Clarke took some money that her father had given her and established a memorial bursary in engineering in his name.
“I just didn't want Bob to be forgotten. You know we were young, we had three little wee kids, I just didn't want him to be forgotten,” said Clarke.
Clarke, her son and granddaughter have gone through the many letters she's received from recipients of the bursary and one of those letters is from a man who became an icon in the Canadian business world.
Gwynn Morgan was going into his second year of university and money was tight on his parents farm north of Calgary so when he became the first recipient of the bursary he was facing a tough decision.
“Could I defer, go work for a little while and then come back? I was thinking about all these things when I got the letter that I had the Robert Paugh Memorial Bursary, which at that time was only $500, but one has to realize that that paid my whole tuition and part of my room and board for a couple of months,” said Morgan.
That allowed Morgan to continue his education and he rose to prominence in the business world becoming the founding CEO of Encana Corporation.
It gives Clarke great satisfaction to learn what the bursary has meant to him and other recipients.
“When you find out what they've done, yes indeed, it is quite amazing how far some of them have gone,” she said.
For what her half century of philanthropy has meant to so many students, Margaret Clarke is our Inspiring Albertan this week.
(With files from Darrel Janz)
