SCHOLARSHIP TO BE NAMED FOR SLAIN ALUMNUS

A former Cape Girardeau man who was shot to death a week before Christmas will be remembered through a memorial scholarship fund at Southeast Missouri State University.

Former geological science professor Robert Parkinson said he contacted the Southeast Missouri University Foundation this week about establishing a scholarship in honor of John Seay Jr., a former student killed in a murder suicide in Midland, Texas.

Parkinson and his wife, Ann, have written the first check to start Seay's fund.

"We just wanted to do something in John's memory," Parkinson said. "He was an excellent student and a very close friend."

Seay graduated from Southeast in 1965 with a degree in geological sciences. He went on to complete a master's degree and move to Texas, where he operated his own oil exploration business.

The creation of scholarships to honor individuals is almost a weekly occurance, said J. Wayne Davenport, director of the Southeast Missouri University Foundation and vice president of development for the university. The university has about 400 endowed scholarships now, and adds to the total at a rate of 30 to 40 annually, he said.

The minimum amount needed to establish an endowed scholarship is $10,000, Davenport said. This ensures that the scholarship remains permanent.

Money gained from interest rates on the endowment become the source for funding scholarships, while the base amount is left untouched, he said.

Seay's mother, Jean Seay, said she remembered her only son when she went to her daughter's house in Cape Girardeau for Christmas. They lit a candle for her son and opened a tin of kippered snacks in memory of John Seay Sr., who died a year earlier.

Jean Seay said she was pleased with the Parkinson's scholarship idea.

"I don't want to remember him with flowers or plants," she said. "I want them to do this."