Howie Family Endowed Scholarship

For the Howie family, loyalty seems to be an inherent trait. Evelyn Howie, the family matriarch, raised her children to be true to their beliefs and values. And that is exactly how they lived their lives.

Cal Lutheran’s introduction to the Howie family came through Evelyn’s son, Shawn Howie ’78. As a CLU student Shawn was known as a real go-getter. When he met and married Susan Bloemer ’81 he found his soul mate. She was someone, like Shawn, to whom loyalty just came naturally. From the time they graduated, Shawn and Susan supported CLU with their resources, their time and their communication skills.

An accounting major at CLU, Shawn soon built a successful career. One of his earliest positions was with Ernst & Young, where several other CLU alumni also worked. Under Shawn’s leadership, the Ernst & Young Accounting Scholarship was created, and somehow Shawn made sure that those alumni coworkers all made regular contributions. He also spent time on campus encouraging accounting majors to work hard to make themselves eligible for the Ernst & Young award. Eventually Shawn was elected to the CLU Board of Regents where he served faithfully for three terms, from 1999 to 2011.

Susan, a liberal studies major at CLU, was a very effective household engineer, something that was especially evident in the raising of the couple’s four children. There was probably little doubt as to where the four children would attend college. They all enrolled at CLU with the same positive, can-do attitude as their parents. The CLU alumni rolls list Robert ’04, Amanda ’06, Mary ’08 and Melody ‘11 Howie among its graduates.

When Susan and Shawn decided to create a Howie Family Endowed Scholarship, they involved the entire family in its design and support. They settled on three main criteria for recipients—Christian leadership qualities, Lutheran faith and strong academic performance. The plan was that endowment earnings would be sufficient to fund two merit awards annually. The awards are to be over and above other financial aid given to recipients.

Included in the document establishing the Howie Family Endowed Scholarship were these words: “This scholarship was created as an expression of our gratitude to God for abundant blessings.” In turn, this loyal family has blessed CLU many times over through its own generosity.