A new scholarship fund in the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) honors a family legacy of agriculture and community support. In turn, the scholarship will support students studying agriculture with preference to those from northeast Missouri.

The Poore-Mayer-Roseberry Family Scholarship gift was announced as part of a celebration on Tuesday, Sept. 17. This estate gift from E. Maurine Mayer and her son, D. Shawn Poore, will establish an endowed scholarship fund for students from Knox and neighboring counties.

“In our estate plans, we have provided a portion of the sale of our family farm to benefit future generations,” Shawn Poore said. “We wanted to find a place where we could help local students and continue the tradition of agriculture, the main industry in Knox County and surrounding areas.”

Mayer and Poore didn’t have to look far, as Shawn is the Executive Director of Advancement in CAFNR.

“The relevance and importance of the research in the college — feeding the world and protecting natural resources — was key for us,” Shawn Poore said. “Mizzou is where our gift can make the most difference.”

Continuing a legacy

Shawn Poore said being able to honor their family’s legacy is an essential piece of this gift.

Nathan and Nancy Williams Roseberry, Maurine Mayer’s great-great-grandparents, were some of the first settlers in what would become Knox County. The family has farmed, worked and served in northeast Missouri ever since.

“Shawn and I want to honor through the scholarship name, Poore-Mayer-Roseberry, six generations of our family going back to the 1830s that helped settle Knox County, have been engaged in agriculture, have worked as public servants in County offices, have been veterans, have been elected officials and community volunteers, and have helped conserve the land so that we can have a small influence on future generations from northeast Missouri,” Maurine Mayer said.

Mayer and her late husband, Donald “Doc” Poore, worked in public service — Doc Poore as the Knox County Treasurer, and Mayer as a legal assistant in the Knox County Prosecuting Attorney’s office. She has also chaired the committee for the annual Hurdland Fourth of July Celebration, the oldest celebration in northeast Missouri, and serves on additional Knox County community boards. In 1984, Mayer married Robert W. Mayer, who worked for the Missouri Department of Transportation before passing away in 2006. Shawn Poore began his career in higher education advancement in 2003 after serving on several U.S. Senate and gubernatorial campaigns.

Maurine Mayer and Shawn Poore have maintained the family farm in Knox County, where they both were raised and where Maurine Mayer still lives. This farm was purchased in the late 1940s by Maurine Mayer’s parents, Dale and Margret Roseberry, who farmed and raised livestock on the property. Maurine Mayer’s late husbands, Doc and Bob, raised corn and soybeans and had livestock on the property. The land is still in use today — rented for cattle and hay production.

Shawn Poore emphasized that the estate gift dually benefits agriculture and the local community — the farm will eventually be sold for another family to continue the local agricultural legacy, and a portion of the proceeds will endow the scholarship to help future generations of the agricultural industry have access to a Mizzou education.

This is a “new way to look at estate gifts,” said CAFNR Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher Daubert. Through a will or trust, donors may direct the sale of their farm, from which a portion of the sale proceeds are used to establish an endowed fund. In Maurine Mayer and Shawn Poore’s case, they directed their endowed fund to provide scholarships. The endowment they created will provide scholarships in perpetuity to students from Knox and surrounding counties. Previous estate gifts of farms have typically allocated land for usage by the university, which isn’t always affordable in the long run. 

“I hope this will inspire others to consider estate gifts of this nature,” Daubert said. “The impact of scholarships on student access, affordability and experience is life-changing. We thank Shawn and Maurine for honoring their family this way, and for believing in the power of CAFNR education and research.”

The goal is for the gift to fund multiple scholarships; preference will be given to CAFNR students from Knox and surrounding counties with financial need, but the fund has the flexibility to benefit any Missouri student. 

“We are thrilled to honor a legacy that has been part of the land, part of the community, for six generations,” Shawn Poore said.