Stoner-Myers Music Scholarship

Eugene Myers was an individual who was a genuine mixture of humility and strength. He was also a lover of music, especially instrumental music. In fact, it was Gene’s love of music that first attracted him to Cal Lutheran. As early as 1981 he began supporting the CLC music department with gifts specifically for instrumental repair and other gifts to create a scholarship for an instrumental musician. He named the scholarship the Stoner-Myers Music Scholarship in the hopes that other family members would join him in contributing to the fund.

Gene was born in Zion, Pennsylvania, and died 89 years later in Oxnard, California. He lived every one of his years to the fullest. After serving in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, he settled his family in Camarillo and began his 30-year career with the California Board of Equalization. Gene and his first wife Mary were faithful members of First Lutheran Church in Camarillo. Their family grew to include two sons and a daughter. Mary died in 1988.

Gene was an outstanding businessman, but he also had an active life as a volunteer for various charitable organizations. It was while he was volunteering with the American Heart Association in Camarillo that he met and eventually married his second wife, a fellow volunteer named Betsy Lee. Betsy shared Gene’s zest for life and his love of music, making theirs a happy and harmonious partnership. They attended Mount Cross Lutheran Church in Camarillo.

When Gene’s daughter Marilyn completed her doctoral degree in biology at Berkeley, Gene and Betsy honored her accomplishment by establishing a second scholarship at CLU, the Lee-Myers Environmental Science Scholarship.

Gene’s philanthropy also extended to his church, his charities and CLU’s Annual Fund, as well as to various capital projects that received his generous financial support. At a 1994 National Philanthropy Day event, Gene and Betsy were honored by the Ventura/Santa Barbara chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals as Philanthropists of the Year. To Gene’s credit, his lifestyle of giving filtered down to his children, who continued to support this scholarship after his death in 2007.

The endowed Stoner-Myers Music Scholarship was finalized in December 1981. It is designated for an incoming freshman who plans to major in instrumental music. It is also renewable for three years, one of few such awards at CLU.