The Marion High School Alumni Association recently announced a new collaboration that will provide great opportunities for young Marion artists now and long into the future.
Nearly 20 years ago, in 2002, a group of community leaders and arts supporters including Dave Rees, Jeff Thorne, Delaine Highley, Sheila Todd, and others came together to create a local endowment for the arts, in honor of innovative music educator F. Ritchie Walton, who put Marion High School on the map with excellent music and theater programs. Walton’s legacy lives on in the performing arts center named for him at Marion High School, and the group of community leaders wanted to help preserve this legacy by creating an endowment to provide scholarships for young Marion artists.
Nearly 20 years ago, in 2002, a group of community leaders and arts supporters including Dave Rees, Jeff Thorne, Delaine Highley, Sheila Todd, and others came together to create a local endowment for the arts, in honor of innovative music educator F. Ritchie Walton, who put Marion High School on the map with excellent music and theater programs. Walton’s legacy lives on in the performing arts center named for him at Marion High School, and the group of community leaders wanted to help preserve this legacy by creating an endowment to provide scholarships for young Marion artists.
Click to view Walton scholarship honorees, updated yearly:
In 2015, with an amazing $40,000 donation from alumna Ferne Gregg, the MHSAA itself created the Giant Arts Endowment, as part of their Giant Dreams Endowment, which benefits Marion Community Schools’ academics, arts, and athletics programs.
Now, with the 20th anniversary of the F. Ritchie Walton endowment coming up, a new collaboration will bring the two funds together to provide even more Giant opportunities!
In 2021, the MHSAA’s Giant Arts Endowment was renamed the MHSAA F. Ritchie Walton Endowment for the Arts. The two funds combined for a total of more than $106,000. Through this new combined endowment, the MHSAA continued to offer grants to support the Marion Community Schools arts program, and the F. Ritchie Walton annual scholarship continued to be awarded. Dave Rees joined the Marion High School Alumni Association Board, to help lead this new collaboration. All involved agreed that this collaboration honors Walton’s love for the arts, and there was excitement to see what the future brings for arts in Marion, with the support of this endowment.
Then, in 2026, the decision was made to break the scholarship fund back into its own endowment, to offer people the chance to direct their support in alignment with their own passions and preferences. So now, donors can give directly to the F. Ritchie Walton Scholarship Fund, or to the Giant Arts Endowment, which supports arts education at Marion Community Schools. The Community Foundation of Grant County will continue to administer both endowments. Your donations are welcome!