Marie C Shively Scholarship
Marie Catherine Elliott (Shively) (1922-)
Marie was born in 1922 and grew up on a small farm in Fairfield County, Ohio, near the community of Sugar Grove. The family had little money, but Marie never felt poor. The farm provided most of the food and sufficient cash income to meet the family needs.
Marie was the valedictorian of her senior high school class and received a full academic scholarship to Ohio University in Athens Ohio. She graduated in 1943 with a BS majoring in education and home economics.
After teaching for a year, she decided to enlist in the Navy and join the WAVES program (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). World War II was raging at the time and her family had a proud history of service. Her father had served several years in the Marine Corp and one brother was active in the Marines and another brother was in the Navy. On June 9, 1944, (D Day) she began her WAVES Officer training and was then assigned to the Communications Intelligence Division in Washington D. C. where she encoded and decoded encrypted messages. After the war ended, Marie attended The Ohio State University on the G.I. Bill and completed her Master’s degree in psychology in 1947.
Marie spent the majority of her first career as a school psychologist and retired from the Dayton Ohio City School System as the Director of Learning Disabilities.
Marie’s second husband was an attorney. After she retired from the Dayton City School System, Marie decided to go back to college and enroll in a para-legal program so she could join her husband’s law firm as a law clerk and para-legal. She continued with this career until her husband retired.
A college education provided Marie the opportunity to have fulfilling careers and to support and provide for her family. Recognizing its value, Marie encouraged and provided for a college education for numerous members of her family, including her two sons who have had successful careers in engineering.
This SWE scholarship, provided by her children, is to acknowledge and honor Marie’s recognition of the empowerment and benefits that a college education offers and to provide this opportunity to the scholarship recipients.
