Over two hundred family members, friends and members of the community attended the second annual Natalie Rae Nance Scholarship Dinner on Saturday, June 2. The dinner was held at the Knights of Columbus on Orion Road to raise money for the scholarship fund.
Natalie Nance graduated from Lake Orion High School in 2003 and was attending Western Michigan University for business administration when she died in a car accident on Jan. 14, 2006.
In high school she was involved with varsity cheerleading, cosmetology and was an AP art student. Friends said that her dream was to own and operate a salon where she could display her own artwork.
Friends of Natalie describe her as being a people pleaser who would go all out for her friends. They said that she would have been flattered to see a scholarship in her name.
According to Geralyn Nance, Natalie’s stepmother, Natalie would have thought the dinner and silent auction were ‘really cool.?
Nance said that family meant the world to Natalie, who was ‘feisty, energetic and always had a humongous smile on her face.?
The Natalie Rae Nance Scholarship was created by her father George Nance and Tina Bambard, junior varsity cheer coach at LOHS. The scholarship committee is comprised of parents of a couple of Natalie’s friends, LOHS cheer coaches and Natalie’s mother and stepfather, Renee and Jim Rowe, along with George and Geralyn Nance.
The scholarship dinner included a silent auction with a range of items up for bid. The items were donated by local businesses and members of the community.
Some of the items available this year were a one month membership to Curves, four tickets to see the Detroit Tigers play the Minnesota Twins, lunch and a squad car ride with Chief Nash, one week in a vacation home in Cape Cod and several prints of Natalie Nance’s artwork.
All proceeds from the auction went towards the Natalie Nance scholarship fund.
The dinner offered a strolling buffet, a cash bar and after dinner music provided by the band Radio Freqs.
The Natalie Nance scholarship committee awards three Lake Orion High School seniors with scholarships of $2,500. Each year one scholarship goes to a varsity cheerleader, another to an art student and the third to a cosmetology student.
The recipients this year were Stephanie Duda for cosmetology, Brad Lawrence for art and Kendall Stout for cheerleading. In the fall Duda will attend University of Michigan ? Flint, Lawrence will be going to College of Creative Studies, in Detroit, and Stout will be studying at Oakland University.
Natalie’s family was honored by all of the support. They thanked everyone who came to the dinner and the scholarship committee for all of their work.
To contact the Natalie Nance scholarship committee call Jim Hafner at (248)891-8985 or Ed Scarth at (248)933-5978.