Long-time Shepparton community leader, Murray Slee, has gifted Greater Shepparton Secondary College $10,000 to establish a series of music scholarships in the name of his late wife.
Two GSSC students will each benefit from a $500 Myra Jean Slee Music Scholarship, with the awards to be presented annually for the next 10 years.
Mr Slee said the former Shepparton High School, where the new GSSC will open for the 2022 school year, was a special place for both himself and Myra.
He attended for part of his schooling while Myra, who spent her entire life in Shepparton, was also a Shepparton High School student who gained a life-long love of music and dance at the school.
The two wed in 1949 and were a key part of their community throughout their 71-year marriage.
For almost half that time, 34 years, Mr Slee served as a councillor, including three terms as mayor. His wife passed away in September last year.
“Myra was a wonderful mayoress who always thought the best of people,” Mr Slee said.
At 98, Mr Slee remains active and keenly interested in his community. He said it was pleasing to see so much investment and development taking place in Greater Shepparton and expressed a desire to tour the new GSSC on its completion later this year.
GSSC director of Music, Lachlan Gallacher, said the scholarships would come in very handy for the future recipients.
“Music students have course fees, attend workshops and concerts and can also face other costs as they continue their studies,” he said.
“These include buying musical instruments and perhaps undertaking private tuition to hone their talents.”
The scholarships will commence in 2022 and continue for the next decade.
A commemorative plaque bearing Myra Jean Slee’s name, with the names of student recipients to be progressively added, will be displayed in the vicinity of the new school’s state-of-the-art dance, music and performance spaces.
