IF YOU GO TO www.facebook.com AND TYPE IN.......ROBERTA WALTER SCHOLARSHIP.......IT WILL TAKE YOU TO A PHOTO ALBUM OF ALL MY KIDS.
MAZEPPA
my hometown & check out .....mazeppapa.blogspot.com
ROBERTA'S FAVORITE SONG
RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD
ROBERTA AND HOW I GOT THE SCHOLARSHIP STARTED
ROBERTA WAS MY YOUNGER SISTER AND IN FEBRUARY OF 1972 WE LOST HER TO A BRAIN TUMOR. TENDER AGE OF 5 AND I ALWAYS HAD THIS FEELING THAT THERE HAD TO BE MORE.SHE NEVER GOT TO LIVE OUT MANY OF HER DREAMS AND FELT IT WAS SO UNFAIR. I WAS ONLY 11 AT THE TIME AND TWO THINGS I REMEMBER DISTINCTLY ABOUT MY SISTER. MY FIRST VISIT TO SEE ROBERTA AFTER HER OPERATION. PUSHED OPEN THE DOOR TO THE CHILDRENS WARDAND THERE SHE SAT. HEAD SHAVED AND THAT GOD AWFUL SCAR DOWN THE MIDDLE OF HER HEAD.........BUT YET THE SMILE !!! AND WITH THAT THE OTHER THING THAT HAS STUCK WITH ME. THE FACT THAT SHE NEVER COMPLAINED. IN FACT THE ONLY THING SHE EVER GOT UPSET ABOUT WAS WHEN THEY CUT OFF HER HAIR. SHE HAD LONG CURLY HAIR AND WAS SO PROUD OF IT. FOR 10 YEARS OR MORE I PLANNED ON STARTING THIS SCHOLARSHIP BUT IT WASN'T UNTIL OUR DEAR FRIEND SHIRLEY STOVER WAS TAKEN FROM US BY A DRUNK DRIVER THAT I FINALLY GOT IT UNDERWAY. WENT TO WORK AFTER HEARING THE NEWS ON THE RADIO AND GOT DISCUSSING IT WITH MY BOSS JOHN DONAHOE. IT WAS JOHN THAT UTTERED THE WORDS... I DON'T KNOW WHY WE PUT THINGS OFF IN OUR LIVES, CAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT WILL BE YOUR TURN. I LOOKED AT JOHN AND REPLIED, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU JUST SAID. AND WITH THAT I CONTACTED GLENN AND THE MIFFLINBURG FFA. MY DREAM HAD BEGUN ! THE ODD AND SAD THING TO ALL OF THIS IS JOHN COMITTED SUICIDE ABOUT 1 YEAR LATER. IT HAS BEEN A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE AND THE WINNERS HAVE BECOME THE KIDS I NEVER HAD. BEEN TO SEVERAL COLLEGE GRADUATIONS, WEDDINGS AND EVEN ATTENDED A COLLEGE CLASS WITH KIM. IT WAS ACTUALLY A LECTURE ON HOW THE AMERICAN INDIANS EFFECTED THE WOMANS LIB MOVEMENT...NOT KIDDING AND IT WAS FASCINATING. MY MAIN GOAL WITH ALL OF THIS IS NOT ONLY HONORING ROBERTA BUT TO GIVE BACK TO THE FFA. ALSO TO HELP OTHERS LIVE OUT THEIR DREAMS AS ROBERTA NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO.