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Scholarship Tea Honorees’ Stories Shine Spotlight on Education

With humor and humility that delighted the more than 160 guests at  Worcester State College’s 15th annual Scholarship Tea on Sunday, May 3, Maryanne and James Kenary extolled the virtues of education and, in particular, a Worcester State College education. The Kenarys, pillars of the Worcester community, were this year’s honorees. 

Proceeds from this year’s Tea benefited The Vera Dowden Baldwin Scholarship Fund. At the time of the Tea, over $12,000 had been raised. You may still make a gift to this scholarship fund, in memory of this well-regarded, influential, and beloved graduate, professor and administrator, and active alumna of Worcester State. Just click here.

Maryanne, who received her master’s degree from Worcester State in 1981, was thrilled to have the chance to share “a few Worcester State stories.” When she began her master’s program in Education, she said that her first professor “welcomed me with open arms and made everything seem so manageable and doable and that it was all part of a master plan.”

In that class, Maryanne said she was fortunate to be paired with “a lovely Worcester State graduate and schoolteacher” for a group project. She “knew how to do everything,” Maryanne recalled.

Maryanne, a college counselor at St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury for 22 years, also recalled that the “Midlife Career Changes for Teachers” graduate course she took was wonderful. The professor’s “enthusiasm was so very contagious.”

Maryanne recognized a dear friend of the family, Ryan Vorapheth, who graduated from WSC in 2005 and is now an accountant with New England Cable News. He and his mother sat with the Kenarys during the Tea.

“He was born in Thailand in a refugee camp, and then moved to the Philippines, and then to Worcester,” she said. “We’re very proud of him. Congratulations! Not only is this a real American success story, but a real Worcester State College success story, too.” 

“Three of our grandchildren have taken courses here and have loved their professors,” she noted.

“Although I didn’t know Vera Dowden Baldwin from Worcester State, we went to the same hairdresser for 25 years,” Maryanne said, prompting chuckles throughout the audience. “Every week, our conversation was pretty much the same. Vera telling me how wonderful Worcester State College was—new programs, new majors, new dormitories—and me in turn telling her about the wonderful students we were sending her from St. John’s High School.”

“I think it’s very fitting that any money raised here today is going to The Vera Dowden Baldwin Scholarship,” she added.

James, who works alongside his grandson, James IV, at the local office of Smith Barney, took the opportunity to pay tribute to the late Georgiana J. Fiske, an English teacher whom he had his freshman year at Classical High School. “She said one thing that I have never forgotten, and I have preached it to my children and my grandchildren,” he recalled. “Whenever you speak, be brief, appropriate, and interesting.”

James gave a few examples of “brief, appropriate, and interesting” stories he has heard told by others. A story of a World War II officer and one of the soldiers in his unit, as told at James’ 50th reunion at Harvard University, was so memorable that he told his grandson Jimmy. Jimmy, who was in the 8th grade at the time, liked it so much, he told it one day at school.

“One of the soldiers in [James’ Harvard classmates’] unit was critically wounded, and he asked the dying soldier if there was anyone he wanted him to contact,” James said. “The soldier told him about a teacher. He wanted the teacher to know that he had never forgotten the impact he had on his life. After the war, he went to the school to pass along the message. The teacher had retired, so he went to the teacher’s home to tell him the last words of his student. The teacher broke down and said, ‘I retired because I didn’t think that I was making a difference.’”

Then James paused and said, his voice cracking with emotion, “You all are making a difference!”

Since its rebirth 15 years ago, the Scholarship Tea has recognized outstanding citizens whose work stimulates the vitality, health, and success of their communities. While successful in the local investment and education sectors, James and Maryanne Kenary are best known for their dedication to, volunteerism with, and philanthropic support of local organizations.

To view more pictures of the Tea, you can visit the Group Photos page.