Don Walker Scholarship...

1984, on Don’s 90th birthday, The Tulsa Alumni Chapter of Sigma Chi held a birthday party for Don at the Tulsa Marriott Hotel. Over 450 people from all over the United States attended this event. To help cover the cost of such a large party a fee was charged for attending the party. The night of the party we determined that we had collected about $3,000 more money than the party was going to cost. The decision was made on the spot to establish a scholarship fund in Don’s name. An announcement was made and immediately additional contributions started being made. By the end of the evening we had over $10,000 in the new Donald E. Walker Scholarship Fund.
Originally undergraduate brothers from Arkansas University, Arkansas State University, Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University, and The University of Tulsa each receive a scholarship from the income produced by this fund. Sigma Chi has given these awards annually since the 1986-87 school year.
The scholarship fund continued to grow after the party. By the time of Don’s death in 1986 the fund had grown to $55,000.00
In early 1994 the scholarship committee recognized that Don would have been 100 years old in 1994 and decided to take a couple of major steps to improve the scholarship. Those steps were to have a fund raising event to try and increase the total principle fund to at least $100,000 during Don’s 100th birthday year and to invite the University of Pittsburgh to participate in the scholarships. Beta Theta was told if they could raise $20,000 that they would be included in the annual scholarships. Beta Theta accepted the challenge and began fund raising.
The scholarship committee reached its goal of $100,000 at a party held in Tulsa on July 24, 1994. On September 1, 1997 The University of Pittsburgh reached its $20,000 goal and was included as a scholarship recipient for the 1997-98 school year. Today brothers who want to honor Don are still making contributions. As of December 31, 2004 the total funds in the principal account of the Donald E. Walker Scholarship Fund exceeded $170,000, making it one of the largest in the fraternity honoring an individual.
If you have any questions, need additional information, or want to make a contribution to the scholarship fund please feel free to contact:
Willis A. Allen
Chair, Donald E. Walker Scholarship Committee
Address:
5272 South Lewis, Suite 200
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74105-6555
Office Phone: (918) 743-3111, Fax: (918) 743-3145, Home Phone: (918) 749-7808
Cell Phone: (918) 857-6015, E-mail: wallen@gilbreaths.com