Patricia G. Wegener ’79 Memorial Scholarship

Patricia G. Wegener ’79 Memorial Scholarship

Faith and family were the ties that bound the Wegener family together, whether in Oregon, Arizona or China. When Patricia “Pattee” Wegener ’79 passed away in 2011 from lung cancer, the family realized just how vital those ties were. And so, a conversation between CLU and Pattee’s brother Mike began that quickly turned into a relationship.

Mike was a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where he majored in chemical engineering. In 2011 he had worked for Intel Corporation for 36 years after starting out at Livermore National Laboratory. At the time of Pattee’s death Mike was working on a new installation in China, commuting periodically from his home in Oregon to the job site.

Pattee graduated from CLU in 1979 as a criminal justice major. She worked first in the California prison system rehabilitating inmates and later she worked in witness protection. She was the kind of person who saw hope for the lives and futures of those who found themselves on the wrong path in life. Pattee eventually left that line of work and became an employee of State Farm Insurance. She married, retaining her maiden name, and she also spent considerable time volunteering with various service organizations.

It was the Wegeners’ strong family ties that motivated Mike to want to establish a scholarship in her memory. He wanted the scholarship criteria to mirror as closely as possible his sister’s personal values. As a result, the very first CLU scholarship based on community service was created. Mike and his wife Christina directly involved in creating the endowment, along with Mike and Pattee’s parents in Arizona. It was truly a family project.

Due to the unusual nature of the criteria that were established, the Patricia G. Wegener ’79 Memorial Scholarship gradually evolved into an award for students who have completed 100 hours of community service while maintaining at least a 3.2 grade point average. Mike and his parents insisted on one other criterion: in order to reflect accurately on Pattee’s life, the recipients must be proclaimed Christians.