Marian and Marvin Jaynes Scholarship

Leadership seems to come naturally to some, while service is a path taken by others. A rare but beautiful combination is a leader who is truly service-oriented. Such a man was Marvin Jaynes, who lived his faith daily professionally and personally.

By profession Marvin was a successful general agent (and later general agent emeritus) for Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company. In his private life, he was family man and long-time faithful member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Moraga, California. In addition to his wife Marian, his family included four children—two sons and two daughters. His daughter Marvie became a CLU student who graduated in 1978 and served as assistant to CLU’s campus pastor for three years.

Marvin joined CLU’s board of regents in 1980 and served in that capacity for 13 years, part of that time as vice chair. His most exemplary service was on the finance and property committee of the board, where his leadership and his personal faith led him to become a strong supporter of the college’s financial needs. Marv was fully aware of the critical need for financial assistance for students and regularly designated a portion of his annual gifts to CLU toward financial aid.

In 1987, rather than continuing to fund the award on a year-to-year basis, Marv decided to endow the scholarship permanently in his and Marian’s names. In his typically thoughtful way, he requested that in the formal identification of the scholarship, Marian’s name should precede his. And so it became and will remain the Marian and Marvin Jaynes Scholarship. The scholarship was awarded for the first time in 1988. When the scholarship was initially set up, the preferred recipients of the award were to be students from Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Moraga. Following Marv’s death in 1994, his daughter Marvie lifted that requirement. Since then the award has been designated for any Lutheran student with financial need.

This story is an example of how involvement with an institution and engagement with students can develop into a gift that outlives the donors. Both Marian and Marv would be proud of the students today who, with the help of the Jaynes Scholarship, are able to attain their dream of a college education.