LAURINBURG – An endowment named after two Scotland County sisters recently gave financial gifts toward two things the women loved most — expanding young minds and helping animals.

The Jane Graham McKay and Katherine Hill McKay Endowment recently announced $20,000 in scholarship awards to seven local students.

The fund will also give $25,000 to the Scotland County Humane Society.

The legacy fund, overseen by Foundation For The Carolinas in Charlotte, was established through a planned gift by the McKay sisters of Laurinburg, who died last year. Katherine was 89 when she passed away on Nov. 23, 2016. Jane was 92 when she died less than a month later on Dec. 19, 2016.

“Anyone who knew the McKays remembers them for their faith, love of education and love of cats,” said Dan Woerner, their close friend and fund advisor. “It’s fitting that the first distributions from their endowment are going to support the causes they held dear.”

Jane was a librarian for the Scotland County School System with 37 years of service. She also taught in Robeson County, Bladen County and Aberdeen schools.

Katherine taught for 37 years at Covington Street Primary School and substituted in the local schools for several years. The sisters were both born in Robeson county to the late Charles and Christine Graham McKay.

The McKays led frugal lifestyles, which allowed them to accumulate a significant estate. The women lived in the same house they had built in 1950 and were known for taking their cat Angel to church with them at Laurinburg Presbyterian Church where they were lonmgtime members. Woerner recalled that every Sunday they would leave Angel in the car with the engine and air conditioner running.

The multi-million-dollar Jane Graham McKay and Katherine Hill McKay Endowment Fund at FFTC will support a wide variety of causes, such as cancer research, religious organizations and more. To honor their love of education, the sisters also established scholarship programs at Foundation For The Carolinas. Founded in 1958, foundation currently ranks sixth among 800 community foundations in the United States. FFTC manages more than 2,500 charitable funds on behalf of individuals, nonprofits and corporations.

Recipients of the first scholarships include Scotland County natives, Noah Altman, a student at Appalachian State University; Caroline Bounds of East Carolina University, Jonathan Bowling of UNC-Chapel Hill, John Harrison Hartwell of NC State University, Stone Phillips of Mercer University, Charles Augustus Purcell of NC State University, and Haley Brooke Sellers of East Carolina University.

The grant to the Scotland County Humane Society will be used to purchase of a van to transport animals.

Efforts to reach an official at the Scotland Humane Society were unsuccessful.

Courtesy photo Jane and Katherine McKay
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_McKay.jpgCourtesy photo Jane and Katherine McKay

Nolan Gilmour

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Reach Nolan Gilmour at 910-276-2311