The Foreign Service Journal, May 2015

56 MAY 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS Scholarship Gift continued fromp. 49 intelligent woman who could take care of herself and had strong convictions,” says Denise Herrmann, a friend and neighbor whom Fitzger- ald designated as the execu- tor of her estate. Nancy Prass, an Ohio University classmate and sorority sister of Linda’s at Alpha Omi- cron Pi, and a Foreign Service colleague in Saigon in 1970, recalls her as an “indepen- dent woman.” Settling in Hamilton, Ohio, after retire- ment, Fitzger- ald became active in her community. She served at one time as the correspond- ing secretary for the Ohio chapter of the American Association of University Women, supported historic preservation and green initia- tives, and spent much of her time helping senior citizens. “She was a shrewd investor in the stock market and a very generous person,” Herr- mann says. AFSA will now offer the $2,000 Linda K. Fitzgerald Community Service Award as part of its annual Merit Awards Program. This com- petitive award will be given to the high school senior of a Foreign Service AFSA mem- ber for his or her community service achievements. In addition, AFSA will bestow at least $20,000 annually in need-based undergraduate financial aid scholarships in perpetuity in Linda’s name to children of Foreign Service employees who are AFSA members, beginning with the 2015- 2016 academic year. Linda Fitzgerald’s bequest is just one example of how generous donors have helped the AFSA Scholarship Program flourish since 1926, Linda Fitzgerald (top row, third from right) and her FS colleague Nancy Prass (top row, left) were Alpha Omicron Pi sorority sisters at Miami University in the early 1950s. COURTESYOFNANCYPRASS when the first memorial scholarship was established by the mother of Oliver Bishop Harriman, an FSO who died suddenly while serving in Copenhagen. The Harriman scholarship is still bestowed annually. AFSA now has 77 of these perpetual and annual named scholarships, each with its own story that we share with the recipient. With Linda Fitzgerald’s gift, AFSA’s scholarship endowment now totals $7.3 million. AFSA has awarded more than $4 million in col- lege aid to Foreign Service children in the last 25 years. No AFSA member dues go towards the scholarship fund. For more information on the AFSA Scholarship Program, please contact, Lori Dec, at dec@afsa.org or (202) 944-5504, and visit www. afsa.org/scholar n . –Lori Dec, Scholarship Director On March 31, AFSA officials, staff, and Scholarship Committee members, as well as previous scholarship recipients and parents of scholarship recipients, attended a lunch in honor of Linda K. Fitzgerald, who had bequeathed the largest-ever gift to the AFSA Scholarship Fund. AFSA presented Denise Herrmann (front row, left), Ms. Fitzgerald’s friend and executor of her estate, with an AFSA commemorative coin and a memorial marker that can be affixed to Ms. Fitzgerald’s burial headstone. AFSA/DEBRABLOME AFSA WEB I NAR REACHES OUT TO POST REPS On March 10, 30 overseas AFSA post representatives took part in our second annual post rep webinar. During the webinar, AFSAPresident Robert Silver- man and AFSAState Vice President MatthewAsada discussed the current revamping of the post repre- sentative program, the new Foreign Service Institute course module on labor management, and AFSA’s congressional advocacy agenda. In particular, Silverman andAsada reviewedAFSA’s requests in the State authorization process, the Sec- tion 326 workforce development report, and proposed changes to danger pay and hardship differential (see p. 53). AFSAwould like to thank all post reps for their service. If your post is currently without a post repre- sentative, please consider serving today. Contact the membership department to volunteer (member@ afsa.org ). n –Lindsey Botts, Labor Management Executive Assistant NEWS BRIEF