Fund established by anonymous donor
NATCHITOCHES – An anonymous donor is honoring the life of a Northwestern State University alumna by creating a scholarship in her memory. The Willie Ethel Boydstun Endowed Scholarship will benefit a student in NSU’s Hospitality Management and Tourism program. Boydstun passed away in 2008 at age 89.
“The donor was a member of a women’s club in Natchitoches and most of the members are now deceased,” explained NSU Development Officer Danielle Cobb. “Mrs. Boydstun would come and present to the club members. They still had a balance of $7,800 in their club banking account, so they closed the account and decided to establish a scholarship in Mrs. Boydstun’s name.”
To be eligible, the student must be from north Louisiana and have a grade point average of at least 2.0. The recipient will receive $250 in the fall and spring semesters.
Boydstun was born in Many in 1918 and was a graduate of Many High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics at Northwestern State and a Master of Science in agricultural extension education from Louisiana State University. She joined the staff of the LSU Agricultural Extension Service in Natchitoches in 1955 and was well-known throughout Natchitoches Parish for her homemaking skills and abilities, teaching the art of homemaking to people in the area for many years as a home demonstration agent. She received the Distinguished Service Award from the Louisiana Association of Extension Home Economists in 1976.
Boydstun was a member of the Natchitoches Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches, Natchitoches Garden Club, Natchitoches Historic Foundation, Delta Gamma Phi, Epsilon Sigma Phi, the Louisiana Retired Teachers Association, the Natchitoches Extension Home Economics Association and the Louisiana Extension Home Economics Association. She was also an active member of First Baptist Church of Natchitoches until her health declined. She served on the Shultz Chapel building committee, the pastor search committee and the landscape committee.
“Our family is very thankful to the anonymous donors who contributed to start this scholarship,” said Boydstun’s grandson William Masson. “My grandmother firmly believed in the value of higher education. She would be very happy to know that NSU students will benefit from this honor in her name.”
Boydstun’s late daughter, Carolyn Boydstun Masson, and two grandsons, William and Patrick Masson, are all NSU graduates.
Friends are invited to contribute to the scholarship by visiting northwesternalumni.com or contacting Cobb at (318) 357-5513 or cobbd@nsula.edu.
