The Wilmington Chapter F of P.E.O. announced their 2017 scholarship recipients at a meeting recently.
Jessica Haynie was awarded the Heiland/Diebel Scholarship, which is the chapter’s local award. Those receiving state scholarships with a recommendation from Chapter F: Alison Dooley, Allison Brooks, Bailey Hudson and Allison Hudson.
P.E.O. is a national sorority founded on January 21, 1869, by seven students at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Today, P.E.O. has grown from the tiny membership of seven to nearly a quarter of a million members in chapters throughout the U.S. and Canada, with headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Wilmington Chapter of P.E.O. is Chapter F — the sixth P.E.O. chapter organized in Ohio. They have a current membership of 37 women who encompass a diversity of ages and backgrounds.
The group has a commitment to women’s education and awards scholarship funds at the state and local levels. The Ohio Scholarships are state selected and the Heiland/Diebel Scholarship is a local selection.
In 1935, Chapter F began a scholarship program focused on the top female graduate from Wilmington High School. Louise Linton was the current president of Chapter F and was a past president of the Ohio State Chapter of P.E.O. That year, her daughter, Jean was the top female student graduating from Wilmington High School.
An engraved cup with Jean’s name was presented to the high school to commemorate each scholarship recipient and to inspire women students at the high school to work toward their educational and career goals.
Since that time, Chapter F has presented a scholarship annually to the top female student(s) graduating from Wilmington High School. Until the year 2010, when Jean (Linton) Heiland passed away, she was present when the scholarships were awarded.
At her passing, Chapter F and Jean’s family collaborated to create the Jean L. Heiland, Louise Linton, Marjorie L. Diebel Scholarship Fund. This scholarship is in memory of many Chapter F sisters, Jean Linton Heiland, her mother Louise Linton, and Jean’s sister Marjorie Linton Diebel – all faithful and active P.E.O. members.
Over the years, the cup reached its capacity with recipient names and the chapter has extended the tradition with four plaques with all of the scholarship recipients’ names. Jessica Haynie’s name is engraved on the plaque as the 2017 recipient.
Haynie will attend Wittenberg University and Dooley will attend the University of Kentucky. Other Ohio Scholarship recipients are: Brooks, Ashland University; Bailey Hudson, Ohio Northern University; and Allison Hudson, Ohio Northern University.
