Thanks to a generous endowment to Stoughton High provided by the late Roy H. Beaton (Class of 1934), the school's future has just become brighter.
Roy Beaton, who passed away last January, left $1 million dollars to SHS for a scholarship fund. The principal amount, which is the million dollars itself, will never be touched, but invested. The interest it generates each year will fund several scholarships yet to be decided on by a committee. "We are the luckiest school in the district to have such a generous graduate," said Superintendent Claire McCarthy.
The committee will determine what the scholarships are for, and the amounts for each scholarship. It will also be decided whether it would be an inside or outside scholarship. In an inside scholarship, a committee from the school would review the applicants, and in an outside scholarship, the applicants would be reviewed by those awarding the scholarships, in this case the Beaton family. All that is known for sure is that the first recipients of these scholarships will be from the Class of 2009.
Depending on the economy in a given year, the principal amount could generate around $50 thousand which would mean the interest rate was five percent. If the interest rate were three percent, it would generate $30 thousand and if it were seven percent, it would generate $70 thousand.
"This is a tremendous gift to SHS. I donít hear about this kind of endowment in other high schools, though there are a lot in college. Itís remarkable that with all of his success, he remembered SHS from earlier on in his life, and itís an incredible tribute to the school," said Principal Dickens, referring to Beatonís many accomplishments.
Beaton's success began at Stoughton High where he was voted most popular, smartest, most efficient, most accommodating, and most dependable. He was also the editor of the yearbook, then called the Semaphore. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Northeastern University, he worked on the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. He also developed and produced nuclear weapon triggers for the U.S. Department of Defense.
As the General Manager of G.E. Apollo systems at Cape Kennedy, Beaton was responsible for Apollo spacecraft modules, launch vehicle stages, and total mission reliability. He's also a former Vice President of General Electric. He lived in fourteen states and twenty-nine different homes, never forgetting his roots at Stoughton High.
Roy Beaton was inducted into the SHS Hall of Fame in 2006. Too sick at the time to accept the award, his son, Roy H. Beaton Jr. accepted on his behalf and made the announcement that his father was to leave $1 million to the school in his will.
The money was presented to the school during a luncheon on Friday, September 28, where Superintendant McCarthy, Assistant Superintendant Spinelli, Principal Dickens, Vice Principals Hosenfeld and Jacobs, members of the Stoughton School Committee and members of Roy Beaton's family, including his son, were present.
The ceremony was an appropriate way to celebrate the life of an accomplished man, who as a former student of Stoughton High School, helps to inspire future SHS students to achieve greatness.
