Lee-Myers Environmental Science Scholarship

When family and faith come together in commitment to a cause, good things happen. That was certainly the case in the creation of the Lee-Myers Environmental Science Scholarship.

The concept of commitment was no stranger to the Eugene Myers family. They were longtime faithful members of the Lutheran church in Camarillo who carried that same commitment to California Lutheran University from its earliest days. As lovers of music, Gene and his first wife Mary generously supported the programs of CLU’s music department both choral and instrumental, but especially the latter. In fact, they took pride in creating the Stoner-Myers Music Scholarship in 1981 for an instrumentalist. Following Mary’s death in 1988, Gene faithfully continued to support that scholarship

The Lee-Myers Environmental Scholarship came into being in 2005 as a tribute to Gene and Mary’s daughter Marilyn, a terrific trumpet player and environmental scientist par excellence. Marilyn Myers received her B.S. degree from Humboldt State University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from University of California-Berkeley, specializing in environmental science, biology, entomology and fresh water invertebrates. She served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador, where she learned Spanish to help her students pass their Spanish requirements. Bicycling was another favorite activity, and she toured 2,100 miles in Europe on her bike. When this scholarship was created, Marilyn was with Fish & Wildlife in the New Mexico Ecological Services.

In 2005, after learning about CLU’s new major in environmental science, Gene and his second wife, Betsy Lee, established the Lee-Myers Environmental Science Scholarship in tribute to Marilyn and her lifelong dedication to her field. The family worked together to endow the scholarship, with contributions from Marilyn’s brother Edward and his wife Susan. The chief criterion of the Lee-Myers Environmental Science Scholarship is that it is to be awarded to an upper-division student majoring in environmental science.