2006 NSA Memorial Golf Scramble Will Also Honor Isabelle MacKenzie Murray

The Newtown Scholarship Association’s (NSA) 14th Annual Jack Friel Memorial Golf Scramble will be held on Monday, June 19, at Whitney Farms Golf  Club/Stone Barn Catering, in Monroe. The event is sponsored by Newtown Savings Bank. Check-in, registration and warm up begin at 10:30 am, with shotgun at 11:30 am.

The tournament entry fee is $175 per person, which includes lunch, cocktails, and buffet dinner. For those wishing to attend the dinner only, the cost is $48. Team handicaps will be used and plenty of great prizes will be awarded, including low gross and low net scores.

This year, the event will honor the memory of Isabelle MacKenzie Murray, a longtime supporter of the Newtown Scholarship Association, and a tireless volunteer for many community and school organizations.

Ms Murray lost her long and courageous battle with cancer in January. She had been a resident of Newtown for 26 years, and throughout that time she was very dedicated to her community. She served on several PTA board positions. In 1986 she was elected to the Board of Education, where she served for 12 years. During her tenure on the board, she held key committee positions and served as vice chairman for four years.

Ms Murray was also a loyal supporter of all Newtown Scholarship Association activities. Her husband, Bob Murray, was a member of the board of governors of the Newtown Scholarship Association.

As a member of Rock Ridge Country Club for 19 years, Ms Murray became the club’s first female president in 1999. In that position, she realized the need for better facilities, and she took the initiative to pursue the planning and building of a new clubhouse. Due to her extraordinary service and commitment to the club, Ms Murray was recently honored by the board of governors of Rock Ridge.

The golf tournament is a major fundraiser for the Newtown Scholarship Association, which provides need based scholarships to college bound high school graduates and continuing students from Newtown. Since its founding in 1937 to promote and advance the education of students residing in Newtown, the association has awarded approximately $3 million in scholarships.

In 2005 the NSA received three times as many applications as it had the previous year, and interviewed that many more students. This year’s scholarship recipients will be announced at Newtown High School’s graduation ceremony.

The goal of this year’s tournament is to raise more than $40,000 for student scholarships. Today, thanks to the generosity of friends and neighbors, approximately $200,000 is awarded annually to enable hundreds of students from Newtown the opportunity to fulfill their dreams in the pursuit of a higher education.

For further information call Mark Fries at 426-8507 or Jim Morley at 426-8966.