In 1944 southern West Virginia, women graduating from high school were not afforded the same opportunities to seek higher education as men. Many became traditional homemakers, cooking, cleaning and raising children. Although June Hitt Blake had the potential and desire to seek a degree, she was not able to do so.

In honor of her mothers encouragement to pursue academics, Nancy Bryant has pledged a $25,000 gift toWest Virginia Universityto establish the June Hitt Blake Scholarship for nontraditional undergraduate students living in West Virginia who demonstrate academic promise.

My mother believed education was essential to a good quality of life and wished she could have attended college,Bryant said.As a single mother of two, I was afforded a second chance to get a degree, and I know she would want others to be given the same opportunity. I feel that WVU is the school that best represents West Virginia and the institution that I think my mother would have chosen.

The award will be given to full-time students within 36 credit hours of graduation who were not enrolled in high school or college for at least three years prior to enrolling at WVU . Special consideration will be given to head-of-household individuals supporting their families as the main source of income.

Recipients will be selected by officials in the WVU Regents Bachelor of Artsdegree program and the Office of the Dean in theEberly College of Arts and Sciences.

The endowment will generate one award annually. The gift was made through the WVU Foundation, a private nonprofit corporation that generates and provides support for WVU .

June Hitt Blake of Weston, who was married to Bill Blake in 1947, became a homemaker and mother of two daughters. She tutored for the Harrison County Literacy Volunteers, was president of the Weston Central Elementary School PTA , led the Lewis County 4-H Club and was active in various community and school activities for many years. She was also a member of the Broad Run Baptist Church in Jane Lew and the New Bethel Methodist Church in Good Hope. Blake passed away of heart disease at the age of 67.

Bryant was a member of the first graduating class from Lewis County High School in 1968 and briefly attended college, but soon left the classroom to raise a family. She returned to Fairmont State University in 1975 as a part-time student and working mother of two and earned her Regents Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979. In 1997, she received a masters degree in industrial relations from West Virginia Graduate College in Charleston, which is now part of Marshall University.

Bryant worked for the federal government for 30 years and was the administrative officer for the Office of Surface Mining in the Department of the Interior in Charleston for 12 years. She is retired, living in Parkersburg and volunteers with various community organizations.

For more information on the endowment, contact Rudy Almasy, associate dean of development at the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, at 304-293-4611 or Rudy.Almasy@mail.wvu.edu .