Dr. Sam M. Hughes and Mrs. Kate Settle Hughes Scholarship
Purpose
Scholarships for undergraduate students enrolled at Florida Tech. (GF000028)Description
Recipients are selected by the Office of Financial Aid. The recipient must be a full-time student; preference given to students who are graduates of Melbourne High School and then preference to graduates of other high schools in Brevard County; must be in and remain in good academic standing; preference given to renewal to the same student.
History
On November 11, 1983, Ralph Johnson, Director of Development requested a waiver of the minimum endowment fund level of $10,000 because Sam and Kate Hughes had offered $1,000 to start this scholarship endowment and promised to build it over time. Because Sam was Florida Tech's first mathematics professor in 1958, the university granted the exception. In a letter on November 22, 1983, President Jerome Keuper stated "Your warm and generous love of people and gift to create an endowed scholarship is magnificent. On behalf of our students that will benefit from your generosity, it is my privilege to say thank you...Your contribution to the birth, growth, and graduates of F.I.T. will continue." Sam did give steadily every year over the next decades and this endowment became a part of the foundation of Florida Tech's overall endowment.
In 1985, Florida Tech bestowed Sam Hughes an honorary degree.
Sam went on to serve as a minister in Clinton, S.C. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Mason Hughes passed on December 2nd, 2004 at Laurens County Hospital and Kate passed on January 27th, 2010.
His obituary stated:
Born in Calhoun Falls, he was the son of the late Samuel Townsend and Elizabeth Stevenson Hughes and was the husband of Kate Settle Hughes. He was a member of the Clinton First Baptist Church, and was a minister, school teacher, college professor, and Shriner. He received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the Florida Institute of Technology, and was a World War II veteran, serving as a chaplain. He received his Doctor of Ministries Degree at the age of 80 from Erskine College.
Surviving, in addition to his wife, is a son, B. Mason Hughes of Ballwin, Missouri. There are five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
