October 11, 2006 - 5:00pm
Sydney and Thelma Mansbridge encouraged all three of their children into post-secondary education and on to successful careers. Now those children are sharing their parents’ support with others, by endowing two memorial scholarships at Malaspina University-College.
"We wanted something that was of value to mom and dad and a lasting memorial. Supporting students into the future was a good way of achieving that," said Darrel Mansbridge, director of student services at Malaspina.
The first Captain Sydney and Thelma Mansbridge Memorial Awards will be presented next spring, awarding $1,000 each toward tuition for one male and one female engineering student. The award is based on academic standing obtained during the first year of academic study at Malaspina.
"Dad would have had a big smile on his face," Mansbridge said. "He was very supportive of post-secondary education. The same with mom – she was also very supportive."
The family decided to bestow scholarships in engineering because Captain Sydney Mansbridge had been a military engineer for most of his career, after entering the army as an underage recruit during World War II.
Sydney Mansbridge was so young when he enlisted that he was made a bugle boy and kept behind the lines until he was considered old enough to go into combat. Captain Mansbridge stayed in the military for 35 years, accepting postings that moved him and his family across Canada. His final post was in Nanaimo, as base commanding officer, where he decided to retire.
Because he had entered the military as a teenager, Captain Mansbridge retired young and enjoyed more than 30 years’ retirement. Mansbridge remembers his dad working on their home in Nanaimo. "He was an excellent carpenter and could build anything."
His mother loved gardening and made their home a showpiece in the neighbourhood. "She was a full-time mom and the ultimate mom," Mansbridge said. "Her major motivation in life was to raise kids and have them be successful, and she did a fine job of that."
When Sydney and Thelma Mansbridge passed away within a year of each other, the siblings agreed they wanted to do something special to perpetually honour their parents. Each contributed $20,000 to create the endowment fund that finances the scholarships.
The scholarships are the first to be offered as part of Malaspina’s new Bachelor of Science in Engineering transfer program, which allows students to take the first two years of an engineering degree at the Nanaimo campus. Recipients will receive $1,000 toward their second year tuition.
Tags: In the Community
