Bythewood and Baker Memorial Scholarship Endowment

Ms. Mays is shown with the first two recipients of the Bythewood and Baker Memorial Scholarship Endowment. Pictured left to right, recipient Dr. Valerie Mandell (Class of 1971), Ms. Mays, Dr. Baiba Ausinsch (Class of 1971), and Dean Emanuel Suter.

This endowed scholarship fund was established in 1968 by Ms. Martha Isabel Mays, who at the time was a 92-year-old retired teacher. She withdrew from her lifesavings to endow the fund and to “do something for my native state, which has given me honorable employment for 50 years and adequate pension thereafter.”

Titled the Bythewood and Baker Memorial Scholarship Fund, the endowment honors two physicians who saved Ms. Mays’ life. Ms. Mays retired in 1953 after teaching in Ocala, Dunnellon, and other Florida counties. One of Ms. May’s most notable accomplishments was her service as principal of an intermediate school in Dunnellon, which she helped develop into a high school.