Scholarship Established at WSC in Honor of Alumna Morgan Queal

A committee will determine the annual distribution of the fund, made possible with a gift of $100,000 by Calvin. P. Queal, her former husband.

The Morgan L. Queal Memorial Scholarship is available to full-time WSC students demonstrating financial need who embody the spirit of Morgan Queal. Preference will be given to those studying a field within the liberal arts, such as history, political science, literature and writing and art.

Morgan was a journalist for several years, including positions as staff writer, first at “The Daily Pantagraph,” Bloomington, Ill., and later at “The Denver Post”, where she met and married Calvin. The couple’s daughter, Duffy, was born in 1970.

The Queals moved to Crested Butte in 1971, where Morgan became editor of the “Crested Butte Chronicle.” The couple divorced in 1980 but remained close.

While in Crested Butte, Morgan owned a yarn shop and taught knitting. She also owned and operated the Mountain Sign Shop, specializing in hard-carved signs. She later enrolled at Western, where she graduated with honors as a major in English.

Morgan graduated from law school at the University of Montana in 1989, with honors, and for five years served as an attorney for the Navajo Nation in Crown Point, N.M. She later entered private practice in Saguache, Colo. She died on Aug. 12, 2010 in Grand Junction, Colo.

“Morgan had a special feeling for the poor, the disadvantaged, the persecuted and abused,” Queal said. “She scorned sham and pretension, and firmly believed in the causes of justice and fairness. We trust recipients of this scholarship will follow her example.”

Scholarship applicants may contact the WSC Foundation at (970) 641-2237 or visit www.western.edu/foundation for more information.