ELIZABETH STOVER FAGAN MEMORIAL FUND
The Memorial Fund was established in 1982 to honor Betsy and provide an annual scholarship to a deserving graduating senior at East Lansing High School
Our Mission
The Elizabeth Stover Fagan Memorial Fund was established in 1982 when Betsy died of a brain stem tumor. Since then, the fund has provided a scholarship each spring for a graduating senior at her alma mater, East Lansing High School. The scholarship rewards a student who deserves a pat on the back, as determined by the high school counseling department and Fagan and Stover family members.
The non-profit fund is supported by an annual charity golf outing in Charlevoix, Michigan, known as The Boo Boo Memorial. Betsy enjoyed her last summer on the shores of Lake Charlevoix in a region that has been a retreat for both the Stover and Fagan families for many decades.
The Scholarship
Our Roots at East Lansing High
After Betsy’s passing, our family established a memorial fund to honor her. Ten of the children from the Stover and Fagan families attended East Lansing High between 1959 and 1980—an idyllic era for our community—so the high school was the right place to provide support in honor of Betsy’s memory.
Since most of the family members were golfers, a golf fundraising event was the obvious choice for rallying family and friends to support the cause.
Our Tradition
Thanks to the families’ strong ties to East Lansing High, we received wonderful cooperation from the principal and the counseling department, We established an annual tradition for the selection process, Every spring, the Counseling Department identifies 4 to 6 deserving candidates based on the families’ guidelines, Then in May, a small group of family members has the honor of interviewing the candidates at the high school to select the scholarship recipient.
Over the years, many family members have participated in these interviews. It is always a moving and eye-opening experience to hear firsthand about the students’ journeys. When we first established the scholarship, we were unaware of the significant adversity faced by so many ELHS students. Hearing about the challenges they navigate has given us a much deeper appreciation for their resilience and spirit.
A Pat on the Back
We try to understand what the students have overcome, whether they are handicapped or blind, deaf or orphaned, destitute or mentally challenged, an ESL student, or the primary caregiver for a family member. We never know what to expect from the candidates, and the interviews can get emotional.
Who most deserves a pat on the back? We consider the person, their challenges, and more. And we think about Betsy.
The Scholarship
Recipients
’25 Lainey Hampton
’23 Sophia Stiles
’24 Janell Brown
’22 Katherine Eva Hawthorne
23’ Addison Bennett
’22 Ava Jayann Henry
23’ Lilly Ramsby
’22 Maya Zulema MacAuley
23’ Zoe Cruz
’22 Gloria Ann Zink
Elizabeth Stover Fagan
(aka Betsy and Boo Boo)
Woody: Comment on young Betsy (and her father?) – 3 to 4 sentences
Betsy and Susie Stover 1979
Betsy had a heart of gold. Her smile lit up a room. She was upbeat, warm, charming, generous and intelligent. She made friends easily.
TESTIMONIALS
about Betsy – 3 sentences each:
Betsy’s father, Stan Stover’s nickname for her was Boo Boo Bear, a popular character in the animated cartoon, Yogi Bear. Her sister Susie kept using her nickname. But most everyone knew her as Betsy.
Susie Stover met Jimmy Fagan when they were both 12-year-olds in dance class at the Country Club of Lansing and they soon became a couple. About four years later Jimmy and Susie decided to introduce Betsy and Paul Fagan over the phone. Soon Paul and Betsy also became a couple.
Betsy and Paul - ELHS Homecoming 1968
Betsy’s father, Stan Stover, died when she was in eighth grade, which was challenging for the Stover family. When her mother, Helen, later remarried and moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, Betsy chose to remain in East Lansing to finish her senior year at East Lansing High School. She moved in with the Foote family, longtime neighbors and close family friends.
It is fitting that the scholarship now supports students at East Lansing High who are facing challenges of their own.
ELHS Graduation 1972
Aunt Mary Last, Betsy, and sister Susie Stover
Betsy and Howard Stover 1979
Woody, Betsy, Helen Carlson, and Howard Stover 1980
Betsy and Paul - Made of Honor and Best Man 1980
In 1980 Jimmy Fagan and Susie Stover were married. Paul and Betsy were best man and maid of honor for their wedding in a little stone church near East Jordan.
Betsy - Chicago Lakefront 1980
The romance continued for Betsy and Paul who both graduated from the University of Michigan. They both moved to Chicago, but Paul and Betsy often escaped the big city to join Jimmy and Susie at their cottage on the banks of Lake Charlevoix. Betsy became a successful investment banker, a rising star in the bond business and life was good for the young couple in the windy city, until she was diagnosed with an incurable and inoperable brain stem tumor. Betsy battled, and every treatment option was explored in Chicago, Ann Arbor, California and New York.
Associated Press story appeared in hundreds of papers
