Hundreds of University of Louisiana at Lafayette students have benefitted from the Dr. Ben and Clare Roy Thibodeaux Scholarship.
Nineteen recipients expressed their gratitude at the UL Lafayette Foundation’s recent celebration of the scholarship named for the late couple.
“In these economic times, it helps,” Trevor Bellard, a freshman accounting major, told Margaret and W.W. “Bill” Rucks III.
Margaret Rucks is the niece of Clare Roy Thibodeaux. W.W. Rucks III is an emeritus member of the UL Lafayette Foundation Board of Trustees and executor of Clare Thibodeaux’s estate. Clare Thibodeaux died in 2001.
The Dr. Ben and Clare Roy Thibodeaux Scholarship is offered to incoming freshmen from Lafayette and St. Martin parishes.
To be eligible for the scholarship, a student must have an ACT score of 28 or better and at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA. Each scholarship totals $8,000, or $1,000 per semester.
The scholarship was created with an $8 million bequest, the largest-ever private gift to the University. That bequest is now valued at $10.6 million.
“Ben and Clare Thibodeaux were accomplished people who passed on their blessings,” said Julie Falgout, executive director of the UL Lafayette Foundation.
Benjamin Thibodeaux, a Breaux Bridge, La., native, worked in economic research for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He conducted economic studies for the government in South America, the Middle East, and North Africa. After serving the U.S. Army during World War II as a colonel in the General Staff Corps, he entered the U.S. Foreign Service. His postings included Paris, Vienna, Ottawa, and Washington, D.C. His last assignment was as minister for economic affairs of the Consul General and director of the U.S. Operations Mission in Japan. He retired in 1962 and died in 1996.
Clare Thibodeaux received a bachelor’s degree in education from UL Lafayette and attended the Sorbonne in Paris. She taught in the Lafayette Parish School System for three years. Clare Thibodeaux accompanied her husband abroad for many years. While in Japan, she pursued her interest in flower arranging, attending the Sogetsu School. She was a member of Ikebana International. Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement.
To see photos of the celebration of the Dr. Ben and Clare Roy Thibodeaux Scholarship, visit http://thibodeauxscholarshipreception.shutterfly.com/76#73.