PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Education Foundation has received a bequest valued at $400,000 that will be used for scholarships of up to $10,000 for graduating seniors beginning in 2011.
The gift was granted from the estate of Richard A. and Christine M. (Tonkyn) Thomas.
Since scholarships will be awarded from endowment earnings, no scholarships will be awarded until next year, said Steve Charno, the foundation’s president.
The earnings on the fund will provide two scholarships for seniors graduating from Port Angeles High School.
The amount of the scholarships will depend on the earnings of the fund, Charno said.
“The upper limit is two scholarships not to exceed $10,000 each,” he said.
“The Thomases’ exceptional generosity will significantly enhance the foundation’s ability to help Port Angeles High School graduates afford a college education,” Charno said.
‘Help worthy students’
Said the family’s representative, George Gedelman: “The Thomases’ hope was that these scholarships over the years will help worthy students to achieve their future dreams and desires.
“They hope that their endowment of this scholarship fund will make that path for those recipients a little smoother.”
Richard “Dick” A. Thomas died in 2007 and Christine Thomas died in 2009. Both were 87 years old at the time of death.
Their only child, Charles Thomas, died in 1981. Their only grandson, Rich Thomas, died in 1996.
Richard Thomas, born in Port Angeles in April 1919, was the only child of Earl and Nellie Thomas and the grandson of Jesse Thomas, a photographer and lighthouse keeper at Tatoosh Island and Ediz Hook.
He graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1939.
Christine M. Tonkyn was born in the Seattle area in August l921 to Charles and Annie Tonkyn. She graduated from Broadway High School in 1939 and attended beauty college.
The two were married in Seattle on Dec. 24, 1941, approximately two weeks after the declaration of war following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
During World War II, Thomas spent 27 months in the Army Air Corps; 21 months of his enlistment in Italy were with the 460th Bomber Squadron.
Following discharge from the military in 1946, he became employed with Angeles Concrete Products and was a foreman there until his retirement in the mid-1980s.
Thomas was active in search and rescue efforts, was the past president and a director of the Port Angeles Salmon Club and a past commander and a district captain of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. He also was a member of the Elks Club, the Eagles and the 460th Bomber Group Association.
Christine Thomas spent her career as a beautician and as a homemaker to her family.
She belonged to the Eagles Auxiliary and was a volunteer at the Golden Craft Shop.
Her husband enjoyed building wooden antique cars, trucks and children’s toys that were also sold at the craft shop.
Foundation
The foundation provides students with three types of financial assistance: academic scholarships to graduating seniors, grants to schools and teachers and basic needs grants to serve as a student safety net.
The school and teacher grants fund such extracurricular activities as field trips or performers.
The basic needs assistance helps students with anything they might need that they can’t afford. The grants go to anything from psychological counseling and medical and dental expenses for those who lack such services to bus passes so students can stay late for tutoring to backpacks or uniforms.
For information, send an e-mail to info@portangeleseducationfoundation.org, or visit www.portangeleseducationfoundation.org.
