Laird Davis Memorial Scholarship

Laird Davis Memorial Scholarship

Live, love, laugh—these three verbs capture the life of Laird Davis ’87. When Laird graduated from CLU, he left behind a trail of memories with everyone from students to facilities staff to CLU administrators. Laird was known for his zest for living, and no one could have predicted that only 10 years later, at the age of 34, he would die from a heart attack. The impact of his death was immediate and devastating to all those who had known him as their friend.

Laird was a born leader and a man of many talents. He was one of those well-rounded people—intelligent, fun-loving, hard-working and genuinely caring. One of his greatest talents was bringing dissimilar people together for the purpose of the moment. He earned respect for his intensity, his integrity and his keen ability to enrich lives. As a result, he had many, many friends.

While it is often difficult to capture the essence of a person in words, Laird’s closest friends were given the opportunity to express their feelings on paper shortly after his death. Their painful sense of loss is palpable. As one friend wrote, “He was like a shooting star—bright and beautiful with a very short life.” After Laird’s death, his friends extended their love and caring to Laird’s wife Leanne.

Laird’s death created a flurry of memorial gifts to CLU. Within a few months, the scholarship fund received sufficient funding for it to become endowed. In establishing the criteria for the Laird Davis Memorial Scholarship, Leanne Davis designated it for an upper-division student who is “well-rounded—serious but fun-loving—with good leadership qualities.”

Few people manage to live life with the same vigor that Laird did. Live, love, laugh—those three words capture the essence of Laird Davis and the scholarship that bears his name.