Area students interested in pursuing a trade need not worry about the cost of an education.
The trustees of the Barbara and Herschel Perry Charitable Trust recently announced they will be directing the trust’s funds towards scholarships for qualifying students interested in becoming an electrician, plumber, or any other number of trades.
“There’s a lot of money in the fund,” said trustee Ken Rowe, not stating a specific amount. “If we were to sponsor everyone in Allen County who is going into a trade, I don’t believe we’d run out of money for five or 10 years.”
HERSCHEL and Barbara Perry were married on June 5, 1954, in Gas. They owned and operated Perry’s Restaurant on the west side of the square in Iola for many years. Herschel also owned and operated Perry’s Refrigeration in Iola.
Herschel died on Nov. 23, 2019, at the age of 86; Barbara died June 20, 2021, at the age of 88. They left a sizable trust after their deaths, naming several people and organizations as beneficiaries. “They were very private and frugal people,” said Rowe. “They never spent any of their money and just wished for it to be used for charitable things.”
The trust is not one where solely the earnings off its investments are being spent so it can live forever, explained Rowe. “It will live for about 25 years.”
Roughly 20 remain in the trust’s expected lifetime.
So far, the trust has allocated $200,000 to LaHarpe’s Regional Technical Center automotive technology program and in 2022, it gave $20,000 to the Allen County Animal Rescue Facility (ACARF) to provide vouchers to pay for pets to be spayed and neutered over the next 10 years.
“We are limiting this trade school opportunity to people who live in Allen County,” said Rowe. He noted that these would be full-ride scholarships, with no limit to how many would be given annually.
Although limited to those who reside in the county, the trade student doesn’t have to be associated with any of the county’s high schools. “If someone is flipping hamburgers and hears about this opportunity and they’re interested, we’d like to talk to them to see if they are eligible to get some help,” he said.
The scholarship would be good for the school of the student’s choosing, as long as it is a trade program they are enrolled in.
As far as eligibility requirements, Rowe says the trustees haven’t pinpointed any specific requirements or criteria outside of the residency. “They do have to be a high school graduate, but not necessarily a recent one,” he explained. “The three of us trustees are going to interview the prospective people. We’ll have lots of questions for them.”
He is hopeful that the county school’s will be able to assist in vetting some of the high school students and finding those who are interested and deserving.
Rowe explained that the scholarship opportunity is available for any trade — whether it be for a CNC program, truck driving, plumbing, electrician or cosmetology school. “The Perrys were in the trades all their lives and almost all their friends were trades people,” he said. When given the responsibility of allocating the funds, Rowe noted that the trustees weren’t given a whole lot of direction. “We just came up with this idea ourselves and think it would be a thing that Herschel and Barbara would really enjoy,” he said.
Those interested in applying for the scholarship can call Ken Rowe at 620-365-9717.
