New Year's Eve Gala Honors Legacy of William Searls and Raises Funds for Local Student Scholarships
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Bank.
TREMONT—When William Searls died in a car accident on a foggy December night, coming home to Southwest Harbor for Christmas, it was a tragedy. Searls was a brilliant student, a kind person who went out of his way to help others. His accidental death cut his life and dreams short.
That tragedy of Searls’ death, all the way back in the early 1950s, however, has helped dozens of local students become smarter, more educated, and given them the chance to pursue their own dreams.
This New Year’s Eve, people can have a good time and support the future of locals in honor of William Searls. That’s the hope of the organizers of the William Searls Scholarship, who are hosting a New Year’s Eve gala at the Seal Cove Auto Museum.
ABOUT WILLIAM THOMAS SEARLS
The scholarship foundation was created to honor Pemetic alum William Thomas Searls who graduated Pemetic High School in 1948, with honors. He’d been born in Washington, D.C., but attended school on Mount Desert Island, becoming a member of the National Honor Society and playing basketball, performing in theater, and he was fond of debating. At his graduation he gave an address entitled “Machines and Changes.”
Searls headed to Bates College, was on the dean’s list all four years, but died his senior year in that December car accident on Beckwith Hill in Ellsworth. He’d been returning home for Christmas after an interview at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he likely would have continued his studies in chemistry after finishing at Bates. The night was foggy, and the Bar Harbor man driving lost control of the car. Searls was just 21.
At Bates, Searls was remembered as always being extraordinarily helpful. The scholarship foundation was created with that in mind.
The first person awarded with the scholarship was Richard Clark, a Pemetic graduate who was attending Carnegie Technical Institute in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Since then, numerous local students have benefited from the funds.
ABOUT ANGELA PAULSEN AND THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HELPED
Angela Paulsen received the scholarship back in 1995. It helped her attend the University of Maine, graduating in 1999. She taught and ended up back at Pemetic Elementary, teaching for 25 years. She has taught every grade. She earned her masters and became a literacy interventionist and has spent her lifetime supporting the children of the same community that supported her as a child.
“This scholarship was instrumental in easing the financial burden of college. Looking back at that time in my life, those four years seemed like an eternity and were really the time when I figured out who I was and who I wanted to be in the future,” Paulsen said.
Now her daughter is a senior and applying for scholarships, too.
“I am thankful for the opportunities I had because of scholarships like the Searls and to see it through the lens of a parent, now? It means even more.”
The New Year’s Eve gala will help support Tremont and Southwest Harbor students, people like Angela, many of whom she taught, with their own post-secondary education aspirations. It’s been helping local students since 1954.
The scholarship has helped Henry Helmke attend Husson Univeristy so that he could get his degree in accounting and then go on to a master’s degree in business administration. Now Henry owns multiple small businesses like the Blue Water Club (Acadia Charter Company) and Quietside Snacks. He manages Blue Water Properties and is looking toward becoming a licensed captain.
“This scholarship really helped me get through school,” Helmke said. “I commuted from Southwest Harbor to Bangor while working full-time at Sawyer’s Market and paying for school myself, so every bit of financial support made a difference.”
THE GALA AND THE LEGACY
“The New Year's Eve Gala will offer a red carpet entrance with photos, live music and dancing, a silent auction, hors d'oeuvres, and a midnight toast to ring in the New Year. We will also be honoring the six local businesses that contributed to repairing the Seawall Road. John Goodwin Jr. Construction, Doug Gott & Sons, Inc., BFP Trucking, Rings Paving, Northeast Paving, and GT Outhouses will all receive a token of our appreciation for their incredibly generous donation to the communities this scholarship fund serves,” according to Kat Murphy.
The legacy of community, of thanks, of helping others is something that people like Searls, people like Murphy, people like those who set up the foundation and those who fix the roads and support each other are about.
HOW TO HELP
You can go on New Years Eve and celebrate, but you can also:
Provide a donation for the silent auction portion of the event.
Sponsor a table at the event for $250 or a chair for $100. Event sponsorships assist in covering costs related to the event (live music, decorations, photographer). Each sponsor will be advertised at the event and thanked on our social media outlets.
Tickets are $125 each or $200 per couple. Tickets are available for purchase at Sawyer’s Specialities, Margo H. Stanley Real Estate, and Pemetic Elementary School.
Checks should be made payable to Searls Fundraiser and can be sent to P.O. Box 1105, Southwest Harbor, ME 04679 or brought to the First National Bank where there is an account for donations.
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