WHO CAN APPLY

Graduating seniors who are residents of Adams, Cheshire or Savoy.

SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

Margery Barrett was born in 1910 in North Adams and moved to Adams as a child. She graduated from the former Adams High School in1927 and from the former North Adams Normal School (now the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) in 1929.

Mrs. Barrett was an integral part of the community she loved. She served as a teacher in both the Conway School System and former Howland Avenue School, Adams and later as a substitute teacher in Adams. She was a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and of its Altar Guild and a former Sunday school teacher. She was also a member of the Adams’ Girls Club.

In 1934 she married William Barrett, with whom she shared her life in Adams until he died in 1969. She and William were both accomplished photographers. She was a member of the Photographic Society of America, the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, past president of the Northern Berkshire Camera Club, and past vice president of the New England Camera Club.

In 1995, Mrs. Barrett, with the help of her attorney, used Pfizer stock (inherited from her father and husband, both of whom had worked at Specialty Minerals) to establish the fund through the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and to increase her income through a charitable remainder trust. The Fund awarded grants anonymously for several years, giving her the joy of seeing her generosity support organizations around her. Upon Mrs. Barrett’s death in 2000, the remainder of the trust was added to the Fund and, at her instruction, her name was publicly announced for the first time. The scholarship was created by the Fund in 2012.