Editor’s note: Harriet Todd, who served the community in many capacities including as a Selectman from 1989-1994, died in 2018.
By Carolyn Caswell Dwyer, Nancy Marshall, and Barbara Slayter
The Lincoln Scholarship Committee (LSC) is delighted to announce the establishment of the Harriet Backus Todd Scholarship in honor of Harriet Todd, longtime resident of Lincoln and widely known by members of this community for her civic engagement and her extraordinary generosity of both time and resources to community institutions and local government.
The first scholarship will be awarded for the academic year 2021-2022 for study at post-secondary institutions or certificate training programs. Its purpose is to encourage students in pursuing studies and/or training consistent with Harriet Todd’s lifetime of devotion to public service and volunteerism, demonstrating both commitment and integrity to a broad range of civic concerns.
In 2019, Harriet Todd made a generous bequest to the town. The Board of Selectmen determined that a portion ($225,000) of that bequest should be designated for a scholarship in Harriet’s name with the intent of sustaining the endowment long term. The BOS charged the LSC with developing the terms of the scholarship and administering the application procedures and the selection of the recipients. Throughout the spring and summer, the LSC worked on refining the terms of the scholarship fund. The BOS formally approved these terms on September 21, 2020.
Rob Todd, Harriet’s husband, noted, “My family and I are impressed with the efforts of the Lincoln Scholarship Committee to bring to fruition an appropriate use of a portion of Harriet’s bequest to the Town. She would be pleased with this lasting contribution to her community, and her family is certainly proud.”
Two scholarships of $5,000 each will be given annually, one for a new and one for a continuing student. Students will be eligible to apply who:
- Complete a minimum of grades 5–8 on the Lincoln or Hanscom campuses, and
- Who are Town of Lincoln residents, or
- Who are resident on the Hanscom Air Force Base, or
- Who attend Lincoln Public Schools through the METCO Program, or
- Who attend Lincoln Public Schools as children of Town of Lincoln employees, and
- Who graduate from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School or Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School, or other vocational school, and whose tuition is paid for by the Town of
Additional details about the Harriet Todd scholarship will be available on the town website in January when the application process for the Codman Scholarships and the Lincoln Community Scholarships for 2021-2022 are posted.
On behalf of the Lincoln Scholarship Committee, the Board of Selectmen, and, indeed the entire town, we offer our deepest gratitude to Harriet Todd and the Todd family for establishing the Harriet Backus Todd Scholarship.
Speaking on behalf of the Board of Selectmen, Jonathan Dwyer said, “This scholarship makes a truly meaningful difference to students in our community. Specifically, it provides financial scholarship opportunities to the 15% of Lincoln’s public school students who live outside the town, in Boston and elsewhere, and are ineligible for our existing resident-restricted scholarships. Also, this scholarship memorializing Harriet Todd is significant to the town as an example of generous service to others. Her gift will help people she never met improve their lives. For all of this, the board is sincerely grateful.”
Dwyer, Marshall, and Slayter are members of the Lincoln Scholarship Committee.
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