Student Loan Fund 1922-1948
From the early days of the club's existence, the club singled out worthy young men, helped them get jobs either in their own store, or with another company in town, and in some cases gave them money out of their own pocket to enroll or stay in school (college). In other cases the members themselves might loan a young man money to to encourage him to go to college.
In 1922 or 1923, the Marshall Rotary Club formally established a student loan fund whereby students could submit letters of application for loans from the Marshall Rotary Club.. The applications were reviewed, and on a selective basis, money was loaned to students to further their education. The students, naturally had to repay these loans.
Mr. Ike Hockwald was, more or less, administrator of this loan fund and he was the one individual who kept it going. Mr. Allen Wesson Weaver was the first recipient of a Rotary Loan from the Marshall Rotary Club.. He attended the University of Texas.. He was a Chemical Engineer and he became owner of a chemical plant in Florida.
This Rotary fund began with approximately $500 and during the period of the Student Loan Fund, this loan fund grew to approximately $6,000 with the help of various people. After the loan program was in operation for a number of years, the student’s response to the loan fund began to dwindle. Student applications for the loans were not as many as they had been in the past. The reason being that the students’ loan needs were being met in other ways -- through the banks, and through funds available at the colleges. On September 23, 1948, at which time Mr. Charles A. Fry was President of the Marshall Rotary Club, this loan scholarship fund was converted to a grant scholarship which the money was given to the students for them to further their education.
One of the primary donors to this fund was Mrs. Frank Davis. She was primarily interested in this Student Scholarship Fund because her husband, Mr. Frank Davis, was a big supporter of the student loan program and he had an extraordinary interest in keeping this student loan program alive. Mrs. Davis’ family was the primary donor to this fund, and it was and has been a success because of the Davis Family.