Legacies

A publication of the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana

2nd Quarter 2023

SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENTS: Foundation Helps Students Answer “The Call”

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New RMD Rules for 2023

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48th Anniversary Celebration

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Rev. Lee Peyton, a retired engineering professor turned Episcopal priest, has a special appreciation for academic excellence. He’s a preacher’s kid from Louisiana, worked 25 years in engineering at the University of Missouri and is now pursuing research at Union Theological Seminary of New York, N.Y.

With his background, it makes sense that he established an endowment at the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana for a scholarship to two worldclass seminaries.

Named for his parents, the Rev. Robert L. and Elizabeth Peyton Memorial Scholarship Fund provides a $2,500 scholarship annually to any student who has been approved for seminary study by the Board of Ordained Ministry in the Louisiana Annual Conference, to attend either Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta or Union Theological Seminary.

“As a lifetime professor and researcher, I really appreciate and value a school with the academic excellence that these two seminaries provide,” Lee said. “Not only were they my father’s and my alma mater, but they are also highly recognized internationally, and I want to incentivize future pastors from Louisiana to enroll there.”

Lee’s father, Rev. Robert L. Peyton, Sr., was a beloved Methodist minister known as “Brother Bob” to his friends and congregants. He received a Master of Divinity degree from Candler in 1943. For 68 years he served churches first in Mississippi and Texas, and then in the Louisiana Annual Conference. He continued active ministry in many capacities well into his 90s. He died in 2011 at the age of 95.

Elizabeth Peyton, Lee’s mother, taught elementary school and worked closely with her husband in ministry. She and Robert were married for 68 years and lived in retirement in Arcadia, La., for 28 years. Elizabeth passed in 2013 at the age of 91. This year, Elise Burch of Monroe received the scholarship. She is a lifelong member of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church of Monroe and a 2022 honor graduate of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

2023 Board of Trustees

Omer Davis

Interim Chairman

Dr. John R. Black

L. Nettles Brown

Rev. Clifton Conrad

Rev. Jo Ann Cooper

Joe Crouch, Jr.

Omer Davis

Rev. Doug deGraffenried

Bobby Fahey

Drew Kennedy

Bob Kimbro

Sandra Kuykendall

Eunice Val Lavigne

Richard Lewis

Troy Searles

Rev. Drew Sutton

Dianne Wilkinson

Chris Spencer President