GIVING BACK TO CREATE CHANGE

A child of the depression, LaJean Roy Firminhac wouldn’t have guessed she’d someday own a Cessna airplane or get her pilot’s license alongside her husband, John. She knew she didn’t want the life her parents lived: a life of subsistence farming, hard work, and little means. After high school, LaJean worked several jobs before enrolling in college. She met the Bowman family during her freshman year, when Ruby Bowman trained her for a position at a local dime store. Ruby Bowman’s ongoing encouragement and support, and her daughter, Jean Bowman Bruhn’s friendship, aided LaJean as she pursued a teaching degree. LaJean now wants to help students in need, just as she was helped by the Bowman family, which is why she and John give an award each semester to an education department student and have pledged part of their estate to UMD. The gifts LaJean received long ago from the Bowman’s enabled her to attain her goals, and LaJean hasn’t forgotten how much that meant. She believes that the recipients of the scholarship, many of them future teachers, will continue the tradition of giving.