West Bend, WI – One of the founding members of the COLUMNS Scholarship was recognized during a quarterly board meeting this week. Marilyn Holmquist, 92, was honored with emeritus status as the board gathered at the office of Murphy & Prachthauser Law Firm in West Bend, Wi.
“You were here at the very beginning, a founder of COLUMNS and we know you’re wanting to step away a little bit and we want to make sure you never can,” said Kristin Bayer with COLUMNS. “We’ve designated you an emeritus member of our board of directors.
“We want to just thank you so much for what you started here.”
Holmquist said, “It’s a wonderful group to be affiliated with.”
COLUMNS was started in 1972 when Marilyn and her husband Bill were playing bridge with friends Chuck and Marilou Chapman. Marilyn was treasurer of the Alumni Foundation at that time, and Marilou was secretary of the West Bend Scholarship Fund. They were talking about the two organizations, and Marilyn’s husband observed that they had such similar missions it might make sense for them to merge.
He offered to ask the Ziegler Company to sponsor a concert by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as a fundraiser. The two organizations agreed to merge, and in 1972 they formed COLUMNS, which is officially called the West Bend Community & Alumni Scholarship Foundation, a name that incorporates the names of the two original organizations.
The name COLUMNS is an abbreviation of Community and Alumni, with an “s” added to the end.
Holmquist was honored with a personalized clear crystal award along with a heartfelt rendition of “For she’s a jolly good fellow.”
According to the COLUMNS website: COLUMNS was founded in 1972, with roots back to 1926. It’s in 1926 that West Bend High School alumni contributed to a fund used for $50 book awards given to outstanding graduates. The West Bend High School Alumni Foundation was established in 1945 and solicited funds for book awards and for a broader base of financial support. In 1961 the foundation obtained tax-exempt status and began the scholarship and aid program. The foundation merged with the West Bend Scholarship Fund, Inc. in 1972 and COLUMNS was born.
