Scholar and a gentleman

To his mother, he was George Maxfield Evans; to everyone else, he was simply, “Budge.” A Batesville resident, Lyon College graduate (then Arkansas College), army veteran and one-time sheriff’s deputy, Budge managed to be a great many things in life. Now, nearly four decades since he passed, you can add namesake of an endowed scholarship to that list, as his daughter, Suzanne Blair, ’68 recently established the George Maxfield Evans Endowed Scholarship.

“He was somewhat of a character,” Blair said, as she prepared to share a little about her father’s story.

Those six words hardly prepare you for the wind ing path that Budge’s life took, beginning notably with his stint as an Independence County Sheriff’s Deputy in the 1930s.

“These were days not too removed from frontier time when a sheriff and his deputy relied on posses to help round up serious law breakers,” Blair said. “These expeditions could, and did, involve shootouts.”

A member of the Arkansas National Guard when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Budge ultimately served in the Aleutian Islands. After his return from World War II he became a teacher of chem istry and physics. Here, Blair cautions that Budge was nothing like the stereotype of a scientist - nerdy and withdrawn. Not only was Budge a gifted athlete, hunter, and passionate fisherman, he had an adventurous streak. This first became apparent to his family on his 12th birthday when he took off to spend two weeks hopping freight trains with his friend “Eggie” Coleman.

It wasn’t until later in life, Blair says, that she appreciated one of the most significant things her father bequeathed her.

“In the '50s when I was growing up, the South was still very much segregated, yet my father was an integrationist,” Blair said. “He believed that segregation was wrong, that all human beings were equal, and that it was wrong to denigrate any group.”

Blair remembers her father as a passionate supporter of education. She has followed his example and is currently serving as a member of the Lyon College Board of Trustees. Though Blair began her college education elsewhere, she returned to Batesville for her senior year, receiving her bachelor’s degree while also working the public relations office.

“I’ve been around Lyon College all of my life,” she said.

Indeed, there’s a family history of connection to the college, dating all the way back to her Maxfield ancestors who were in the very first graduating class of Arkansas College. Having been instrumental in helping establish the college’s creative writing programs, Blair also taught French as an adjunct faulty member.

The new scholarship is designated to support female students majoring in a STEM field, with a special preference for those hoping to succeed in a field where women are traditionally underrepresented. When asked why support STEM, when she herself has lived a life immersed in the humanities, Blair responded by saying that her father exposed

her to everything. Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, math and science weren’t thought to be suitable sub jects for girls. Blair, however, as the daughter of a high school chemistry teacher, grew up playing with Bunsen burners and pipettes.

“I played with dolls, but he also taught me to hunt and fish,” she says. “He took me to the chemistry lab but would also lead me through a call and response recitation of Wordsworth’s Daffodils in the spring when our yard was abloom. In short, he provided me an upbringing where experience was not limited by my gender.”

The lesson stuck with Blair. In 1977, she founded the nonprofit Batesville Montessori School. Much of her life has revolved around Lyon College. Since then, she’s worked as an editor and served on the board of the literary press Story Line Press, as well as worked as a freelance reviewer and member of the National Book Critics Circle with reviews appearing primarily in the Philadelphia Inquirer as well as an occasional poet and essayist with work published in the U.S. and in England. She has also served on the Literature Fellowships Panels of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Now, she can add philanthropist to that long list of accomplishments, all of which she attributes to the foundation that her father provided her, many years ago. This, she says, is a way to pay it forward.

“I started this scholarship to perpetuate his spirit of acceptance and encouragement, Blair said. “Though attitudes have changed a lot, after a certain level girls and young women can still be hesitant to pursue science or mathematics. That’s why I established the George Maxfield Evans prize for the female student with the highest grade in calculus at Lyon — as encouragement. This scholarship is an extension of that purpose — to provide encouragement and assistance to women who choose this path.”