Each June’s Ilwaco High School graduation stories include mention of students winning two annual local scholarships, the Marie Hamilton and the Margaret Myers. Who were these two benefactors who by now have helped several generations of students to higher education?

Mrs. Marie Hamilton, according to the Observer’s obituary, “was born in Wintersett, Iowa, on July 2, 1891, and became a resident of Long Beach in 1934. Mrs. Hamilton was a daughter of the Charles Howells of Portland, and an owner of a lumber firm. She is survived by a sister, Maude Ferguson of Long Beach, and several nieces and nephews.” She died at the age of 73 in July 1964, was buried from the Long Beach Community Church, her casket being carried by Herb Zahl, Dave Overstrom, Al Harris, Harold Porteous, Jack Petit, and Charles Conto. She had lived in Long Beach for 30 years. Her husband had died in 1945.

Marie Hamilton’s will left an estate in excess of $300,000 and provided for lifetime care of her ill and elderly sister. Upon the sister’s demise, Mrs. Hamilton’s estate would then be distributed, much of it to go for student scholarships at Ilwaco High School. A news story added, “Some bequests of local interest are: Long Beach School District, $5,000. Town of Long Beach, $5,000. Long Beach Fire Department $5,000. Long Beach Community Church $2,000. Long Beach Library $1,000. Pacific County Chapter, American Red Cross $4,000. Shriner’s Children’s Hospital, Portland $4,000.”

The scholarship trust was to be administered by the National Bank of Commerce (now KeyBank) with the income and earnings from that trust to be paid each year for scholarships to graduating students. The recipients were to be chosen “on the basis of scholastic standing, need, and general worthiness” by the school directors and the superintendent of schools. “Mrs. Hamilton’s wish [was] that the number of scholarships awarded be held down so that each shall be of substantial help in schooling rather than nominal token awards.”

-Aug. 7, 1964

Several years later, when the guidelines were established for the selection of students who would receive a scholarship, the judge found that the bequest prohibited “an absolute 100 percent” contribution to the student’s educational costs by the trust. “It seems to me,” said the judge, “that the student must at least do something” toward supplying the money necessary for a year’s college. Every graduating student was eligible to apply if she or he planned to continue her or his education at a college, university, trade, or business school.

By leaving the trust’s principal intact, and using only the annual earnings to fund the scholarships, Hamilton’s bequest could last ad infinitum and benefit many generations of Peninsula students.

It was estimated that the amount available each year would be about $10,000, a considerable sum in those days when the federal minimum wage was between $1.25 and $1.60 an hour. The first scholarships were given to the graduating class of 1967.

“Mrs. Margaret G. Myers, who makes her home part time with her friends, the Guido Funkes at Cranmoor north of Ilwaco, last week made to University of Washington a $100,000 gift to be used for an undergraduate scholarship fund. The University’s board of regents accepted the gift Saturday from Mrs. Myers. It is the largest such bequest ever made to the school.

“Mrs. Myers explained her bequest to the University of Washington and a similar $100,000 gift to Yale University as being the result of having no immediate family relatives on whom to bestow her bounty. Her husband, Theodore F. Myers, retired Iowa attorney, died at South Bend in 1934.

“They came west after his retirement to be near two of his brothers there. The advice and friendship of Superior Court Judge John J. Langenbach of Raymond, a 1919 graduate of the University of Washington law school, and of a Yale friend and advisor of long standing undoubtedly prompted the two bequests, a university spokesman said.

“Mrs. Myers spends a portion of her time in California.”

-Apr. 1, 1955

Margaret G. Myers died in September 1965, a year after Mrs. Hamilton. Her brief obituary reads, “Margaret Myers, a native of Iowa who has resided at the Guido Funke home at Cranmoor for the past 13 years, passed away on Tuesday, the 14th, at Ocean Beach Hospital, and her remains were transported to Portland International Airport Thursday by Penttila’s Chapel by the Sea for shipment by plane to Montezuma, Iowa. Mrs. Myers is survived by a niece, Ida Gordon of Montezuma.”

“The will of Margaret G. Myers of Cranmoor has been admitted to probate with A.D. Gillies and the Seattle First National Bank confirmed as executors of the estate estimated in excess of $500,000. The will provides for bequests to a number of friends and relatives in addition to a trust fund to be established.

“One-third of the proceeds of the trust [are] to be paid annually to Pacific County Hospital District for use by Ocean Beach Hospital at Ilwaco. From earnings of the fund, $1,000 is to be paid for scholarships to be known as ‘The Margaret G. Myers Scholarships’ of which $500 is to be awarded each year to a boy and $500 to a girl graduate of the Ilwaco High School.”

-Sept. 24, 1965

“$13,700 Goes for Scholarships. The late Marie Hamilton of Long Beach left an estate to the high school which set up a total of $12,500 for this present year. The Margaret Myers, Ilwaco, estate appropriated two $500 scholarships and two $1,000 nursing scholarships, all of which included a good number of students for extra higher education money.”

-June 7, 1968

What a nice legacy.