Always Alpha Phi
Alumna Establishes Scholarship Fund in Honor of Alpha Phi Sister
G
Above: Claudia Lacey McNeil (Tau-Oregon) (in red) enjoys time with her husband Dan and daughters Christy MacColl (left) and Carrie Gross (right). Fellow Tau sister Gretchen Anderson Pilip established a scholarship fund in McNeil’s name.
OREGON
Gretchen Anderson Pilip
3 2
PHOTO COURTESY OF HEIDI HIASSEN, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
GRETCHEN ANDERSON PILIP (TAU-OREGON)
has established a scholarship fund in honor of sister Claudia Lacey McNeil (Tau-Oregon), who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in 2010. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It has no cure. Gretchen and Claudia met on Bid Day at Oregon in 1968. In honor of their nearly 50-year friendship, Gretchen endowed the Claudia Lacey McNeil Scholarship Fund at Oregon through the H.E. Anderson Family Foundation. The undergraduate scholarship will provide tuition support to graduates of underprivileged and minority high schools in the Portland area. The university’s website published a story about the scholarship and the
women’s enduring friendship. “Since I was diagnosed five years ago, my sorority sisters and other friends from college have been pure saints,” Claudia says in the article. “They have never hesitated to give their kindness to me.” In their decadeslong friendship, Gretchen and Claudia have experienced weddings, births and careers. The scholarship is a tribute to a relationship that would not have been possible without the university or Alpha Phi. “This is to honor Claudia,” Gretchen says. “Her life and her commitment and connection to the University of Oregon.” Read more about Gretchen and Claudia’s friendship at around.uoregon.edu.
Alpha Phi Quarterly S PR I N G 2016