The Alice Tart Butler Baggett Memorial Scholarship

Butler Family Donates $15,000
To DHS Friends For Scholarship

(L to R) Linda Lynch Butler, Cliff Butler
Martha Ann Butler Goff, Robie Butler, Lynda Butler

Siblings make endowment in memory of their mother, from the DHS Class of 1933. Martha Ann Butler Goff, Cliff and Linda Butler and Robie and Lynda Butler recently donated $15,000 to DHS Friends in memory of their mother, Alice Tart Butler Baggett.

Mrs. Baggett was born Jan. 4, 1916 in Dunn and died Jan. 5, 2007. She was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Tart and was the wife of the late Clifford R. Butler and the late G. Walton Baggett.

A 1933 graduate of Dunn High School, Mrs. Baggett was active in school and was a star basketball player. Her family has also donated Mrs. Baggett's high school basketball uniform to DHS Friends.

Mrs. Baggett, the former owner and operator of Butler and Carroll Drug Company and WCKB Radio Station in Dunn, was a lifetime member of Hood Memorial Christian Church serving as trustee and treasurer. She was also the first woman member of the Dunn School Board and became chairperson.

Mrs. Baggett's daughter, Martha Ann Butler Goff, resides in Dunn and graduated from Dunn High School in 1954. Her son, Clifford R. "Cliff" Butler and his wife, the former Linda Lynch of Dunn, live in Chapel Hill, and graduated in 1964 and 1963, respectively. Her son, Robie S. and his wife, the former Lynda Daniel, reside in Coats. He is a 1968 graduate of Dunn High. Three of Mrs. Baggett's grandchildren graduated from Dunn High School and three grandchildren graduated from Triton High School.

The first Butler-Baggett Scholarship will be presented in the spring of 2009. Criteria for receiving the award are that the senior be a direct descendant of a Dunn High School graduate, excel in academics, participate in athletics and school extracurricular activities and church. Community awareness also plays an important role in receiving the scholarship. The scholarship applicant must be accepted to Barton College, Campbell University, Western Carolina University or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Former DHS Friends Chairperson Chuck Turnage said, "We are grateful that the Butler family has entrusted our organization with this generous gift. The endowment by her children is a testimony to Mrs. Baggett's lifetime advocacy of education and will be a legacy for years to come. We encourage our membership to support the Butler-Baggett endowment."

Anyone wishing to discuss endowing a similar scholarship should contact a DHS Friends board member. The endowed scholarships will insure financial aid to students for many years and future generations will know there was a Dunn High School and an alumni organization known as DHS Friends.

Founded in March 2001, DHS Friends is the alumni association of the former Dunn High School which was located on the site of the present Harnett Primary School. The old Dunn High School building was demolished in September 1996. DHS Friends, since the organization's inception, will have awarded, including this year, scholarships exceeding $100,000.

Dunn High School alumni wishing to become members of DHS Friends can download the 2008 DHS Friends membership and reunion brochure at www.dhsfriends.org.