Students financially in need who want to attend the Hazleton campus of Penn State University – especially those from Hazle Township – may have an easier time getting an education, in the name and memory of the Hazleton area’s most famous person.
Friday, Elaine Palance – the widow of actor Jack Palance – was at Highacres to announce she was establishing the Jack Palance Memorial Trustee Scholarship.
Elaine said Jack would have been pleased to leave a legacy that combined two of his great loves – his hometown and young people.
“When I was approached about doing this, I knew at that very moment it was the right thing to do,” she said. “Jack loved this area and the people, and he’d want to make the future of children better. I can’t think of a better way than helping young people attain their educational goals.”
Kevin Salaway, the campus’ director of development, explained how a trustee scholarship works.
“The donor contributes a prescribed amount,” Salaway said. “An endowment such as this remains in perpetuity, so the principal remains, and the interest is used for the awards.”
Salaway said the number of scholarships and their amounts are dependent upon by the university’s Financial Aid office.
“A trustee scholarship means the trustees match the amount (of the scholarship),” Salaway said. “Trustee scholarships start at $50,000.”
Implemented in 2002 by the university’s board of trustees, the scholarship program has assisted more than 4,000 students in the 2006-07 school year.
Although Mrs. Palance did not reveal how much she has endowed on behalf of her late husband, who passed away last November, she said she would like to build the scholarship to be even larger.
“I would like to have a golf tournament or some other event,” she said as she signed papers for the scholarship. “I want to get very involved and participate so that it can help as many students as possible. I don’t want to have just X dollars for this, I want to have 10 X.”
Salaway said the scholarship is a culmination of money raised from family and friends around the world. It is a testament to the way Palance felt about his hometown.
“Jack had a long-standing relationship and commitment to the Hazleton community,” Salaway said. “We are flattered the Palance family has elected to make this contribution to the Penn State Hazleton Campus. It’s a way of giving back to the community. It was their (the Palance family) interest to leave a lasting legacy, so they elected to do this.”
Attorney Pasco Schiavo, vice president of the Hazleton Educational Council, the campus advisory board, and chairman of the campus Development Committee, presented Mrs. Palance with a token of appreciation.
“Many of us here in the community view Penn State Hazleton as a true asset to the region, and it’s gratifying to know that someone like Jack Palance agreed,” Schiavo said. “It’s a great legacy.”
It was Schiavo and local TV personality Sam Lesante who began a dialogue with Jack and his family related to supporting the Hazleton campus as a means for creating a legacy in his hometown.
“Jack expressed interest in supporting the campus, and it’s wonderful to see his wishes come to fruition,” Lesante said.
“We appreciate the Palance family establishing the Jack Palance Memorial Scholarship at Penn State Hazleton,” said Penn State Hazleton Chancellor Dr. John Madden. “This gift will have a lasting effect on students, giving those who may not have the resources to attend college an opportunity to do so.”
Following Palance’s death, one of Palance’s daughters, Holly – the other daughter is Brook – requested that a memorial scholarship fund be established at the campus.
Elaine said Jack would have been pleased to help young people.
“You had to see the way he was around children,” Elaine said. “In order to understand, you would have to have been over our house for a sleepover – when all of the kids would be outside, skating on the pond at the farm, with the car headlights shining on them – and Jack holding one that was too cold. You had to see that. Jack would be so proud to do this.”
And if any of the scholarship recipients wanted to study theater or acting, Elaine said she had some study tips.
“I could help anyone study drama and acting,” she said. “I could tell them what books to read. Jack had his own library.”
Mrs. Palance also took then opportunity to speak with the media and thank veterans who saluted the famed actor upon his death.
“I would like to thank the veterans for bringing all of the majesty to Jack’s memorial Mass,” Elaine said. “Many people don’t know he won the Purple Heart and Bronze Star in World War II. Jack is being honored by the Green Berets in Oklahoma City in August.”
Born Volodymir Ivanovich Palahniuk in Lattimer Mines and the son of a Ukranian coal miner, Jack Palance is well known for his roles in 1950s movie classics such as “Shane” and “Sudden Fear.”
On television, he won the Emmy Award for the 1957 show “Requiem for a Heavyweight.”
In the 1980s, Palance also co-hosted with his daughter Holly the television series “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.” And he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1992 for his performance as cowboy Curly Washburn in the comedy “City Slickers.”Labels: academy awards, career training, education online, financial aid, free college, free education, high school, scholarship, student loans, study abroad |
