Written by Kay Bouyack
The Scioto Foundation is pleased to announce the establishment of a new $500 scholarship created by Dru and Bryson Canter, two brothers from Ironton, Ohio, in memory of their grandmother. The Sherry Canter Memorial Scholarship is the third scholarship set up through the Scioto Foundation by youth in the Scioto County – Lawrence County area in the past year.
The scholarship is designated for a South Webster student who will be majoring in education in college and who has maintained a 3.0 GPA in high school. The money will go into the South Webster UCAN Fund so it can be matched. A committee of Sherry’s friends and colleagues will select the winner of the scholarship award.
Sharon “Sherry” Canter was born on July 6, 1943, at Ashley Corner, the daughter of the late Leonard and Vivian (Skaggs) Jenkins. She died on January 17, 2023. She was retired from South Webster Schools after 33 years of service including her years at Minford and Vernon Elementary.
“Our grandmother retired after over 30 years of teaching, but loved the profession so much she went back years later and became a substitute teacher for all the local schools in Scioto County,” said Dru.
“Gigi, (as her grandsons called her), was a big fan of her South Webster Jeeps. Every basketball season she had a Jeep that lit up red hanging on her flagpole; it faced Route 140 and in the night you could see her Jeep from the road. When she wasn’t in Vegas or at the casino with her best friend, Harveena Fenton, she would either be attending one of her grandchildren’s extracurricular activities or out to eat at one of her favorite restaurants. She was one of those people never liked to sit down; she always wanted to be on the go,” her grandson remembered.
“She was an active member of the Scioto County Catholic Community. She was a faithful servant of the Lord and loved Jesus more than anything else. She was a prayer partner to many and she would always say “Yes, I will pray for you” when I would ask her. She always put her family before herself and that is what made our grandmother so special to so many people. Although she was just our grandmother, she was also a mother, aunt, cousin, but especially a friend to so many people,”
Dru continued.
“Bryson and I wanted to create this scholarship to have her memory live on by helping and encouraging other students, whose parents or grandparents she may have taught, to enter into the teaching profession. Our grandmother was a woman who loved to give back to her community, so in her memory Bryson and I decided to establish this scholarship to show the community she loved so much that we care about them, and that she is still working in the school system though she is physically gone,” explained Dru.
“Many people still tell me about the lasting memories that Gigi left on them from when they had her as a teacher. This scholarship was established in hopes that in the coming years students who receive this scholarship will also have that same impact upon their students that our grandmother had on hers. We hope by establishing this scholarship her life as a schoolteacher will never be forgotten,” he concluded.
Dru is a sophomore at Ohio University Southern majoring in business with the hope to go to law school. He currently works full-time at a rehabilitation center in Ironton, Ohio. He is a big Ohio State Buckeye fan and enjoys going to games or cheering them on from home, he says.
Bryson is a 2022 graduate from Morehead State with a degree in business. He works full time at STAR Community Justice Center where he has been in the fiscal department for over 5 years. He also enjoys watching Ohio State play and has season tickets to all Ohio State home football games.
Both brothers graduated from St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Ironton.
Additional information about the Sherry Canter Memorial Scholarship or other planned giving opportunities at the Scioto Foundation may be obtained by contacting Patty Tennant, Program Office – Donor Services, or SF Executive Director Kim Cutlip at (740) 354-4612.