Alumna Establishing Scholarship in Honor of Sister

by David Price (July 2010)

University Park, Pa. -- Patricia E. Lee, a 1975 College of Education alumna, has made arrangements in her estate to establish the Patricia E. Lee and Mary E. Lee Scholarship in the College of Education. The scholarship will provide recognition of and financial assistance to outstanding undergraduate students enrolled in or planning to enroll in the College. Consideration will given to students majoring in elementary and kindergarten education who are from Pennsylvania.

Born in Rosemont, Pa., Patty and her sister, Mary, were the first in their family to go to college. Both received scholarships and attended Penn State, where they studied education and played basketball.

"One little scholarship can be the difference," Lee says.

She and Mary had long, successful careers in the Radnor Township School District in suburban Philadelphia—Patty teaching and coaching in middle school, Mary teaching for 29 years at Ithan Elementary. Patty is endowing the scholarship in memory of Mary, who passed away in 2006.