BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School senior Erabelle Conant is this year’s recipient of the Betty Warren Memorial Scholarship, presented by the Col. Samuel Elbert Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Conant, who received $1,500, has a career goal of becoming a criminal lawyer or diplomatic agent.
The scholarship is named after Betty Eileen Dye Warren, a longtime resident of Starke who was active in First Baptist Church of Starke, the hospital auxiliary and the Col. Samuel Elbert Chapter, NSDAR. She passed away in 2003.
Warren was born in 1924 to Cyril and Rena Warren. She lived in West Virginia with her parents and five sisters. She attended West Virginia University for a short time before leaving to join the wartime workforce with the FBI in Washington, D.C.
She never had an opportunity to return to school, but she cherished and encouraged lifelong learning.
Warren and her husband, Joseph, moved to Starke, where they started their own family. Warren’s son Jeff is a donor to the scholarship fund, as is Lynda Warren Perez, who was married to Warren’s son John, who’s now deceased.
Jeff Warren attended the May 5 DAR meeting at Keystone Heights’ city hall at which Conant was presented as this year’s scholarship recipient. He said his mother never enjoyed being the focus of attention, so she probably wouldn’t enjoy being in the spotlight every May when the scholarship in her name is presented.
“But we’re going to continue to do it because this was so near and dear to her heart, to help people further their education,” Warren said.
Virginia Walkup, the chair of the scholarship committee, said the Col. Samuel Elbert Chapter received seven applicants this year, which she credited scholarship committee member Carole Montgomery for.
“She went around to all the schools,” Walkup said. “She’s the one who really got us seven applicants by going to the counselors, taking the applications and following up.”
Walkup said scholarship committee member Patti Priest created a system in which applicants were scored in the areas of GPA, community service, extracurricular activities, honors and career objectives.
“The scores were very close,” Walkup said, “but one applicant — Erabelle Conant — came out above the rest.”
Walkup thanked scholarship committee members Montgomery, Priest, Leslie Harper, Judy Jull, Susan Lucas and Anne Smoak, saying, “They spent a lot of time going over the applications. I appreciate it so much.”
