Iva Mae Blaum Scholarship winners announced

[May 14, 2022]   Four Logan County Seniors have been selected as new scholarship recipients from the Iva Mae Blaum Trust. They are Maura Gowin, Zadie Laubenstein, Alaina Taylor and Cole Kindred. They will begin their nursing or agriculture studies in the fall.

Maura Gowin is the daughter of Michael and Suzanne Gowin. Maura will be a student at Lincoln Christian University and St. Francis Medical College of Nursing. Maura would like to become an Emergency Room Nurse and maybe one day work as a Nurse Practitioner.

Zadie Laubenstein is the daughter of Brian Laubenstein and Amber Geggie. Zadie will be attending Millikin University and will be studying Nursing. Zadie would like to become an Oncology Nurse then continue her studies to become a Nurse Practitioner.

Alaina Taylor is the daughter of Tia Taylor and Chris Coyne. Alaina will be attending the Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville and will be studying Nursing. Once she graduates, Alaina would like to work as an Emergency Room Nurse and eventually work as a Nurse Practitioner or CRNA.

Cole Kindred is the son of Denis and Sherri Kindred. Cole will be attending Rend Lake College to study Agriculture Engineering/Technology. Once he graduates, Cole would like to design new equipment for agricultural uses.

The scholarship, given in memory of Arthur B. Blaum and Iva Mae Blaum, is earmarked for Logan County students who are majoring in nursing or agriculture. It may be renewed up to eight undergraduate semesters, as long as the student maintains a B cumulative grade point average and remains committed to his or her initial field of study.

Iva Mae Blaum was a graduate of Deaconess Hospital of Lincoln and retired from Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in 1985 after 46 years of service as a surgery supervisor and director of nursing. Her husband was a lifelong farmer in the New Holland area.

Mrs. Blaum passed away in August 2015 and the first scholarship was presented in 2016. Since then, Kameron Aylesworth, Lukas Aylesworth, Cierra Crowell, Jacob Kirgan, Maggie Anderson, Molly Schempp, Madison Thomas, Madeline Cook and Ruthie Ruhl have received scholarships for agriculture.

Emma O’Donoghue, Grace Skelton, Lauren Turner, Claire Hill, Brooke Kitner, Brooke Montcalm, Ashley Schmidt and Madison Orebaugh have received scholarships for nursing.

Per the terms of Mrs. Blaum’s will, the trust should continue to award scholarships until 2035.

Heartland Bank and Trust Company is the trustee of the Iva Mae Blaum Trust.

[Susan D. Sheley]