Endowed Scholarships

Lincoln and Barbara Blake

Emeritus English prof and wife engage Earlham students after retirement

Although he officially retired in 1999, Lincoln Blake and his wife Barbara can’t help but stay involved with Earlham.

It only makes sense, since Lincoln’s own parents modeled this same passion for more than 40 years as missionary education workers in Turkey, where Lincoln was raised until he was 12.

The Blakes devoted years of their lives to education — Barbara as an elementary counselor for Richmond Community Schools for 21 years, and Lincoln as an English professor at Earlham for more than 35 years. Lincoln was also involved in Earlham’s Humanities program and led six Wilderness programs. Both Blakes directed three Earlham study-abroad trips to London, Edinburgh and Jerusalem, and were involved with Upward Bound, a federally-supported program for low-income high school students that introduced them to college life.

Even now, they actively lead others in educational ventures. Lincoln has returned to Earlham to teach several classes since his 1999 retirement, and he and Barbara have led several instructive expeditions to Turkey — student May Terms in 2000, 2005 and 2007, and alumni tours in 2001 and 2007. They plan to return for another May Term in 2009.

The Blakes, who already have given so much to Earlham students through their educational contributions, recently decided to do even more. The result — an endowed scholarship to benefit socially concerned, academically motivated students who need assistance to support their Earlham educations.

“I think at this point in our lives, we were interested in giving a scholarship and meeting the student recipients — seeing the effect,” says Barbara.

“I would not have been able to go to college without a scholarship to Tufts College and a fellowship to the University of Chicago,” Lincoln explains. “It was nice that there was that aid money available. Barbara and I always felt that we wanted to give back.

“I enjoyed working at Earlham College. It was a rich experience and we wanted to make that Earlham experience available to someone else.”

The Blakes’ Earlham experience began in 1964. Lincoln had seen a feature in the Chicago Tribune on Midwestern colleges that greatly praised Earlham College. At the time, he was looking for employment as an English instructor. He mentioned his search to Wayne Booth, who was a former Earlham faculty member, and soon he and Barbara found themselves in east central Indiana in time for the Fall Semester.

They have been here ever since, encouraging and influencing countless students through their passion for educational work, just as Lincoln’s parents once did in Turkey.

Now, through their recent gift to create an endowed scholarship, that legacy of passion can live on indefinitely, continuing to influence students at the College and making that rich Earlham experience available for generations to come.