Honoring Dr. Mac
Now, one of those former students, retired NASA engineer Jack A. Jones (57C) and his wife, Katherine Young Armitage (58c), are carrying on Dr. McAllister's legacy by endowing a scholarship in his memory. Dr. Mac, as he was fondly known, started Berry's physics program in 1932; he retired in 1971 and died in 1986.
Jack and Katherine always had planned to honor the professor by making a gift to Berry in his name but recently decided to accelerate the process. The couple did what few of us can imagine - they gave up their right to the earnings they were receiving from a charitable remainder trust and instructed Berry to use the money to fund the Dr. Lawrence E. McAllister Memorial Endowed Scholarship. Thanks to their generosity, scholarships are available now to qualified students.
"The more we thought about it, the more we realized that the time was right," Jack said. "We wanted to have the joy of seeing a deserving student receive the scholarship now, rather than having the scholarship begin after our deaths."
The Dr. Lawrence E. McAllister Memorial Endowed Scholarship is a need-based award that will go to a student in good academic standing who participates in the work-opportunity program. Additionally, the recipient must be a physics, chemistry, biology or mathematics major. Once the student is awarded this scholarship, he or she will continue to receive it during subsequent years of study at Berry, providing the criteria continue to be met.
"We are blessed to have Jack and Katherine as friends," said Bettyann O'Neill, Berry College vice president for advancement. "To relinquish the income of a trust so that scholarships can be awarded now instead of far into the future is a magnificent act of generosity. We are deeply grateful to Jack and Katherine."
Jack, who was involved in the development and operation of civilian space vehicle systems starting with the first space rockets and concluding with the International Space Station, credits Dr. Mac with much of his success. And, he said, he has plenty of company. Over the course of his 40-year career with NASA, Jack worked with many other Berry graduates who got their start in Dr. Mac's classroom.
"To the individual, Dr. Mac left his mark on them, and without exception, those alumni have represented Berry well," Jack said. "We might have had separate careers, but there was a brotherhood among us. Part of my motivation is to pay tribute to this rare and wonderful group because they were good disciples of Berry and continue to be, and so much of that is to Dr. Mac's credit. I also wanted to preserve Dr. Mac's legacy."
Jack said he and Katherine hope that other alumni whose lives were influenced by Dr. Mac also will contribute to the scholarship fund and provide even more assistance to talented students.
