Mary Purser Memorial Scholarship

Someone once said that “good friends are hard to find, harder to leave and impossible to forget.” There is a group of CLU alumni from the early 1980s who would agree with that saying, and this endowed scholarship is the proof.

This scholarship began with a wedding invitation from Eric Jensen ’84 and his bride-to-be, Cherie Bailey. That invitation read, “no gifts, please.” Eric was one of a group of friends who had become close while attending CLU. That bond of friendship continued long after their graduation, but it was shaken in 1996 when a member of the group, Mary Teresa Purser ’85, died of pneumonia at 32.

Mary was a native Californian and lifelong Lutheran. Her father, George Purser, had graduated from Cal Lutheran in 1965, so it was no surprise that Mary chose to attend CLU. She enrolled as a freshman in 1981, selecting biology as her major, and received her bachelor of science degree in 1985. Following her graduation, she put her degree to work, first at Reference Lab in Newbury Park and then at Smith Kline Beecham Labs in Van Nuys. Mary loved life, all of it— her family, friends, work, camping, traveling, sports, church, needlepoint and teddy bears. Everyone loved her sense of humor and the sparkling vitality with which she approached everything.

When Eric’s friends received their invitations to his wedding in 2003, some of them put their heads together and decided to honor the wishes of the newlyweds by writing checks to CLU “in honor of Eric and Cherie and in memory of Mary Purser.” After all, Mary had been the one person missing at this happy occasion. Their unusual and thoughtful gift gave Eric the idea that ultimately led to the endowment of a scholarship in memory of Mary, the friend they all loved.

The accumulated wedding gift checks provided funds for the Mary Purser Memorial Scholarship to be awarded for the first time on Honors Day 2003. From that time forward, Eric took it upon himself to keep his group of friends focused on the eventual endowment of the scholarship. They not only reached their goal but exceeded it in the years that followed. Mary’s family, in collaboration with Eric, chose to designate the Mary Purser Memorial Scholarship to a biology major in his or her sophomore, junior or senior year.