Dalbrae grads to benefit from generous donation
September 4, 2024
Future graduates of Dalbrae Academy in Mabou will benefit from the kindness shown by the community after a local family lost their home to fire more than 60 years ago.
Floyd Murphy was just 14 years old when fire destroyed his family home on Glendyer Hill Rd near Mabou in 1963. Fast forward 61 years, and Murphy, the oldest of five siblings, has donated $500,000, along with his wife, Gloria, to go towards scholarships for graduates of the school.
“We lost everything in the fire,” he recalls. “We were all divided up, stayed in different homes around the community. I guess it was about three months before we all got back together again. We converted an old building that was down in Glendyer into a temporary place to live, so that we’d be reasonably close to the farm, and we got on with life.”
“We weren’t in exactly good straits, but we would have been in absolute dire straits had the community not stepped up and provided support – accommodations, food and clothes, etc.”
“I always said some day when I have a few shillings, I’d like to support the community. I’ve always made donations to places like museums and so on, but this item with the
school is something that will go on forever.”
“I always said some day when I have a few shillings, I’d like to support the community. I’ve always made donations to places like museums and so on, but this item with the school is something that will go on forever.”
Murphy, who owns Murrick Financial Services in British Columbia, recently visited Mabou, along with Gloria, and met with representatives of the selection committee that will determine what students will benefit from their donation. That committee includes representation from the school, St. Stephen United Church in Port Hood, the Knights of Columbus in Mabou and the Municipality of Inverness County.
“There’ll be $500,000 deposited with the Vancouver Foundation,” he says. The foundation, for which Murphy has served as a board member, works with individuals, charities and businesses to create endowment funds, most of which are permanent. The original capital is then invested strategically so it can continue to generate an income, making donations last a lifetime and more.
“The income from that will basically be $20,000 to $25,000 a year, and that will be available every year for scholarships,” Murphy adds. “There’s additional money coming, but this will be the initial deposit.”
He says the selection committee will look at three criteria, noting that the successful graduates will be students in good standing with the school, and must be accepted to a college or university. But he says financial need will be the key in awarding prizes.
“Today, some families have two incomes, and things are pretty good, and they’ve put money away for their kids,” Murphy says. “None of that happened back in the 1960s. But today there are still families that don’t have a nickel or a dime to give to their kids when they’re getting ready to go to school.”
“If I hadn’t had the support (of the community) I would probably have had to drop out of school back in 1963,” he remembers. “That was not uncommon – people stopped going to school and went to work.”
Students will be required to apply for the scholarships, and the first awards will be handed out to the class of 2025.
“Let’s suppose they receive 40 applications,” Murphy explains. “They then go through those applications and identify up to 10 key students who would get scholarships and then they allocate the money based on need and the type of school they’re going to.”
“For example, if somebody is going to McGill in Montreal, they’re going to have a lot of expenses, and somebody taking a trades course in Port Hawkesbury will be much different.”
He says it seemed like the right time to give something back, after his family had benefitted from the kindness of others so many years ago.
“This has been in our wills to do this for probably 20 years,” he notes. “But we decided that since we had the money available, why would we wait until we’re both dead to set this up. It might be kind of pleasant in the next few years to watch students get scholarships. So, we speeded the process up because we have no plans to die in the near future.”