FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          May 11, 2005

LYLE FUGIT ESTATE ENDOWS SCHOLARSHIP AT NORTHWESTERN

            Through a will bequest, the late Lyle Fugit of Alva has left more than $40,000 to the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Foundation to establish a scholarship to the university.

            The award will be known as the Hazel Fugit-Tempus Fugit Glass Scholarship and will not be restricted as to classification or major field of study. Recipients will need to meet standard scholarship requirements.

            Hazel Fugit was Lyle’s sister and died in 1937 at the age of 28. Tempus Fugit Glass, a 1984 Northwestern graduate, is his granddaughter.

            Fugit died in 2001 at the age of 81. He graduated from Alva High School in 1938 and was an Alva resident his entire life except for a few years when he farmed near Dacoma. He was married to the former Verlene Bixler, who died in 1985.

            A member of the Alva First Christian Church, Fugit served as deacon, elder and Sunday School superintendent. He was a past master of the Alva Masonic Lodge, a 33-Degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the York Rite Mason, the India Shrine and the Alva Chapter of the Eastern Star.

            He is survived by two sons, Larry and Tony, four grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

            As with all endowed scholarships, 90 percent of interest earned each year will be used for the scholarship award, with the remaining 10 percent returned to the body of the endowment to ensure continued growth.

            Jane McDermott, executive director of the Northwestern Foundation, expressed appreciation for the gift and acknowledged the efforts of the late Don Benson, original executor of Fugit’s estate, in arranging the bequest.

-NW-

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