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UWF Receives $39,593 Donation 
From Frank Brown Songwriters 
Festival For Larry Butler Award

The University of West Florida celebrated 

a $39,593 donation to the UWF Department 
of Music in support of the Larry Butler 
Memorial Music Award on April 2, at 
the Museum Plaza in Historic Pensacola. 
The new funds are a result of a fundraising 
concert featuring Dean Dillon in downtown 
Pensacola and the Frank Brown International 
Songwriters Festival, which were both held in 
November.

The donation will provide opportunities for 

students to work with world-class artists and 
travel to competitions, conventions and elite 
music festivals. The Larry Butler Memorial 
Music Award was created in 2015 by Peggy 
Butler in memory of her husband, a Grammy 
Award-winning songwriter and producer and 
Pensacola native.

“This gift will positively impact our 

students, faculty and community on a 
daily basis,” said Dr. Sheila Dunn, chair 
of the Department of Music. “The Larry 
Butler Music Memorial Award is truly 
transformational for our music students and 
for our department.”

Larry Butler worked with renowned 

recording artists Johnny Cash and Kenny 
Rogers, among others, during his career 
in Nashville, and continued to show 
appreciation for his hometown through his 
generosity, including holding a benefi t concert 
to raise money for the rebuilding effort 
following Hurricane Ivan.

The Frank Brown International Songwriters 

Festival hosts Grammy Award-winning 
songwriters and rising stars, who perform 
original songs in multiple locations in the 
Florida and Alabama Gulf Coast. 

For more information about the Larry Butler 

Memorial Music Award, please contact the 
UWF Foundation, Inc. at 850.474.3118.

UWF Alumnus Honors Father By 
Providing Scholarships To UWF 
Students

The University of West Florida received a 

$50,000 gift from UWF alumnus Jeff Weeks 
to establish the William J. “Bill” Weeks 
Endowment Scholarship in honor of his 
father.

The scholarship is reserved for fi rst-

generation college students majoring in fi ne 
arts, performing arts or communications 
within the College of Arts, Social Sciences 
and Humanities. To qualify, students must 
be from Escambia, Santa Rosa, Oklaloosa or 
Walton counties in Florida and Escambia or 
Baldwin counties in Alabama. 

Weeks is a senior vice president-investment 

offi cer with Wells Fargo Advisors in 
Pensacola and also the host and producer of 
“Conversations with Jeff Weeks” on WSRE. 
He majored in communications at UWF, and 
his father, Bill, had a passion for art.

“The skills learned in communications 

and art courses translate into every industry 
today,” Weeks said. “The arts and creativity 
are so important to our society as a whole and 
I think we need more talented individuals 
with these skills entering the workforce. I 
hope this scholarship inspires growth and 
change in students who may not have known 
the potential they had before. Once you 
break that seal on your potential, the sky’s the 
limit.”

When Weeks was in kindergarten, his 

mother suffered a brain aneurysm that forced 
his father to step up and bear the brunt of the 
work in the household. He took care of his 
family, while maintaining a successful career.

“He was acting almost like a single father 

at a time when that was uncommon,” Weeks 
said. Although Weeks’ father did not attend 
college, he encouraged his children to pursue 
higher education.

“The college is honored and deeply grateful 

to have received this wonderful endowment 
from Mr. Weeks and his family,” said Dr. 
Steve Brown, dean of the College of Arts, 
Social Sciences and Humanities.

Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by 

Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member 
SIPC.

Veterans Memorial Park 
Foundation Announces Memorial 
Day Essay Contest

The Veterans Memorial Park Foundation 

of Pensacola is pleased to announce an essay 
contest for 3rd - 12th grade students in 
Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Students 
in public, private, or home- school settings 
are eligible to participate. Essays are due by 
May 15th and winning essayists in each grade 
will be awarded a $50 gift card. Winners will 
be recognized at the May 26th Memorial Day 
Ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Park in 
Pensacola.

“During Memorial Day ceremonies, we 

often hear speeches about those who have 
‘made the ultimate sacrifi ce’ but often we 
don’t really think about what that means,” 
said retired Navy Captain Lee Hansen, 
the Foundation’s 2019 Essay Contest 
Coordinator. “This year, we’re asking local 
students to write about what that phrase 
means – and why we should honor those who 
have made that sacrifi ce for the freedoms we 
enjoy.”

The annual essay contest is just one way 

the Foundation completes its mission of 
educating the community about the sacrifi ce 
of those memorialized in the park. The all-
volunteer Foundation also hosts ceremonies 
for both Memorial Day and Veterans Day. 
They provide presentations and assistance 
to military groups who visit the Park during 
reunions and other gatherings. They raise 
funds to pay for the upkeep of the Park and all 
the monuments contained in the park. 

To fi nd out how you can help support the 

Veterans Memorial Park Foundation – or how 
you can participate in the Memorial Day Essay 
Contest – visit veteransmemorialparkpensacola.
com or contact Ms. Lee Hansen at 850-434-
6119.

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4/30/19   7:56 AM