Victor and Mary Carlson Memorial Scholarship

Sometimes the story of a scholarship begins several generations before it actually comes into being. This is especially true for the Victor and Mary Carlson Memorial Scholarship, the second endowed scholarship ever to be established at California Lutheran College. The scholarship came from a family with roots in Smaland, Sweden, as far back as 1875.

In 1961, just as CLC was getting under way, Mary Hallquist Carlson passed away, leaving her daughter Vernice Carlson Leuth in charge of her estate. Vernice, a resident of Modesto, California, and an alumna of Stanford University, had a strong streak of family pride and wanted her parents remembered as Lutherans. Her parents’ family of ten had originally emigrated from Sweden to western Nebraska, where they had become homesteaders, farmers and ranchers. They were all members of the Berea Lutheran Church in Chappell, Nebraska, which was established in 1887 and was part of the original Augustana Lutheran Church. The family later moved to California and settled near Turlock. In spite of their agricultural orientation, the Carlsons believed strongly in education and assisted their children in obtaining college degrees. Because the church was their other chief interest, their children created this scholarship to memorialize them in the most appropriate way possible.

The Carlsons’ daughter Vernice, in addition to being well educated, was a tenacious historian. She corresponded frequently with Dr. Orville Dahl, CLC’s first president, to clarify the family’s expectations for the benefits the scholarship award would offer to students. Originally the scholarship was designated for students going into medical or theological training, but Vernice later modified the criteria to make history majors the chief focus. Once she felt assured that the University was on solid ground and would honor its financial agreement for the scholarship, she and her husband Dorwin contributed handsomely to the endowed fund.

The story of the second scholarship in CLU history is a reminder of the importance of maintaining close relationships with University supporters. The Victor and Mary Carlson Memorial Scholarship is now designated for an upper-division history major with a strong academic record and preferably of Scandinavian descent.