Note: This message was originally sent on January 10, 2024
If instead of lighting the candles on a cake for each year since Mary Stuart Rogers’ birth, you lit candles for each Zag who received scholarship support from the Rogers family in Mary’s honor, you can be sure the fire department would need to be on standby. January 10, 2024, would have been Mary Stuart Rogers’ 106th birthday. In her lifetime, she was so committed to serving her community that her family helped to extend her legacy through their generosity, care, and scholarship support. Over the course of the past two decades, the scholarship bearing Mary’s name has provided more than 600 scholarships to Gonzaga students who demonstrate the same dedication to serving their communities. Pictured below are Gonzaga’s 2023-2024 recipients of the Mary Stuart Rogers scholarship, alongside the Rogers family—Janet, John and June.
Gonzaga isn’t alone in receiving support from the Rogers family—their philanthropy has helped thousands of students at schools up and down the West Coast and done a great deal to improve lives in their home region of Modesto, California, through several organizations.
Today, Gonzaga joins the Rogers in celebration of their family matriarch and the tremendous legacy she launched. Interesting context to this story. The Rogers did not have any affiliation with GU – those many years ago when their support of our students began. They identified with our Jesuit mission and were incredibly impressed by the way our students, faculty and staff brought to life being “people for and with others.” As any Zag who’s received a Mary Stuart Rogers scholarship will tell you, with the Rogers, it’s all about family—and Gonzaga is truly grateful to count the Rogers family as one of our own. #ZagsForLife