FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, (304) 696-7153
 

MU scholarship fund honors Lyle and Edith Plymale

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A scholarship fund honoring former Marshall University professor Lyle F. “Doc” Plymale and his wife, Edith, has been established through the Marshall University Foundation, Inc.

The goal is to raise sufficient funds to endow the Lyle F. and Edith Plymale Memorial Scholarship through the foundation. A minimum of $10,000 is needed to meet endowment requirements.

The scholarship fund honors the Plymales, both Wayne County natives, Marshall College graduates and teachers of science and math, by providing financial assistance to a Spring Valley High School student who plans to attend Marshall University and major in a math- or science-related field. The student will be a full-time freshman with a high school GPA of at least 2.5.

 Lyle Plymale, who was born in Shoals, W.Va., and graduated from Buffalo High School, taught chemistry for many years at Vinson High School before becoming a chemistry professor in Marshall’s College of Science. He retired in the early 1980s after teaching for 38 years.

Edith Plymale was born in East Lynn, W.Va., and graduated from Wayne High School. She taught for many years at Ceredo-Kenova High School before retiring in the early 1980s after teaching for 35 years.

Spring Valley High School is a consolidation of Vinson, Buffalo and Ceredo-Kenova high schools.

Mike Fullerton, one of eight members of the Scholarship Organization Committee, said deciding to honor the Plymales was easy. A 1963 Vinson graduate, he remembers well being a student in one of Lyle Plymale’s classes.

“It’s very easy to honor somebody who made such an impact on so many people,” Fullerton said of Lyle Plymale. “Not only academically, but from a moral standpoint. He was a total package, he helped every kid. I never knew anybody that went to him that didn’t receive help. He was just one of those people you remember. He was a dandy, and his wife was a very good teacher, too.”

Other members of the Scholarship Organization Committee are Carter Chambers, Ron Elmore, Doug Sullivan and Joe Moreland, all from the class of 1963; Karen Plymale Knowles and Larry Queen, from the class of 1965; and Rick Plymale, from the class of 1970.

Persons wanting to donate to the scholarship fund may do so by mailing a check made payable to the Marshall University Foundation, Inc. to: Marshall University Office of Development, Lyle F. and Edith Plymale Memorial Scholarship Fund, One John Marshall Dr., Huntington, WV 25755-6002.

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