9-20-04
MEDALLION DINNER RESULTS IN
NEW SCHOLARSHIP FOR BEHREND STUDENTS
Penn State Behrend presented its highest honor, the Behrend Medallion, to Dr. Ray and Virginia McGarvey at a dinner held in their honor in the McGarvey Commons on Tuesday, September 14. During the evening college officials announced that friends and family of the McGarveys had raised more than $70,000 in honor of the couple to create the McGarvey Family Trustee Scholarship at Penn State Behrend.
In his remarks that evening, Behrend senior Ryan Barninger, who received the first award from the scholarship, said he was surprised, and that he hadn't expected to receive a scholarship this year. He also said that the scholarship will allow him to spend more time on academics this year, and it will lighten his debt when he graduates.
"The Behrend Medallion has been awarded intermittently since 1973," said Margie Taylor, director of Development, "but it's been awarded steadily since 2001. The past four Behrend Medallion Scholarship Dinners have resulted in nearly a half-million dollars in scholarship endowments that benefit Behrend students."
The newly renovated McGarvey Commons was decked out in sunflowers and cows, a theme that followed the McGarveys' ownership of Meadow Brook Dairy and Country Fair, Inc. More than 200 people purchased tickets for the evening and were on hand to honor them and extend best wishes.
The McGarveys are longtime Harborcreek residents, with Ray serving on the Harborcreek School Board and Ginny serving on the Harborcreek Township Zoning Hearing Board. Both are members of Wesley United Methodist Church and have been leaders in Christian education.
In 1960 Ray became CEO of Meadow Brook Dairy, a business founded by his father and uncle. Recognizing the need for a new way to distribute milk products, he opened the first Country Fair store in 1965. Ray and Ginny and their children, Keith, Emy, and Steve, worked as a family to build Country Fair, Inc., which under Ray's leadership grew to include more than seventy retail food stores.
Until their recent move, Ginny and Ray were neighbors of Penn State Behrend for thirty-five years. Ray has served on Penn State Behrend's Council of Fellows since 1980 and was awarded the lifetime designation of Alumni Fellow in 1992. Ginny chaired the college's fiftieth anniversary committee in 1998. They created the Ray and Virginia McGarvey Scholarship Endowment at Penn State Behrend in 1988, a fund that has supported sixty-four academically talented students.
Media Contact: Loretta Brandon 814-898-6063 lzb6@psu.edu