Scholarships Create A Lasting Legacy

Steven E. Bailey Scholarship

Steven Bailey has helped people in ways he’ll never know. The boy voted most likely to succeed in high school and crowned prom king was a natural leader, surrounded by friends who appreciated his giving nature. Initially he wasn’t sure Illinois State was the school for him, but he soon found a circle of friends and told his dad he loved the University.

Killed by a drunk driver in 1997, this business major and Sigma Tau Gamma member never got the opportunity to finish his degree. After two days on life support, Steven’s family made the difficult decision to donate his organs. Knowing that’s what Steven would have wanted made it somewhat easier. “He was a good kid, and he would have loved to help more people,” said his father, Lee Bailey of Joliet. When his father met the man who received Steven’s lungs, he saw someone so passionate about the gift he had been given that he started speaking about organ donation to community colleges and other groups.

After it was discovered Steven’s killer would only spend six months in jail, reaction to his death led to tougher penalties for driving under the influence in the Joliet and Will County area. This scholarship honors Steven’s love of Illinois State and is for graduates of Plainfield High School majoring in business or members of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity at ISU. Several scholarships have already been awarded. Lee Bailey expressed his appreciation to Illinois State for helping create his son’s legacy. “They stay in contact and genuinely seem to care,” he said.

Give online at Advancement.IllinoisState.edu/bailey

The Maggie Webb Endowed Scholarship Fund

Maggie Webb ’05 is remembered as a strong leader, a supportive friend, and wise mentor. She was just two weeks shy of her 25th birthday when her life tragically ended in a random act of violence at a Von Maur store in Omaha. Maggie was working as a store manager when a 19-year-old man came in and started shooting. Eight lives were lost and five others were injured.

Maggie’s life and death touched people across the country. One of those was Jim Hayes, a philanthropist and retired engineer from Alexandria, Virginia, who read her story in the local paper. “I was moved by the events of her passing,” he said. Although he had no ties to Illinois State, he created a scholarship in Maggie’s honor. In these tough financial times, he realizes state schools need the support. “I like state schools because they can be more affordable,” he said. “It is important to build and grow endowments, and that is increasingly clear in this recession.” The scholarship is still in the open-ended growth phase so it will take three to four years and more donations before the first scholarship can be awarded.

Those closest to Maggie remember her warm smile and concern for others, making a scholarship to benefit students an especially appropriate legacy. “When I contemplate the future of our country, I gain hope by reflecting on the example of Maggie Webb and the future scholarship recipients who embody that hope,” Hayes said. “It’s a small impulse to set a scholarship in motion, but the momentum may grow to be self-sustaining. I’m a great believer in naming the right heroes that are often forgotten. If we can do something to remember Maggie, it challenges other people to do something else in her name.”

Give online at Advancement.IllinoisState.edu/webb