Flynn Family Endows Scholarship for Children of Farm Workers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2001
Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Greg Lavin, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
530-898-6171
Flynn Family Endows Scholarship for Children of Farm Workers
The family of Miriam R. and Bernard F. Flynn Sr. has endowed a scholarship in the name of their parents for farm workers or children of farm workers through the California State University, Chico Foundation.
Bernard F. Flynn Jr. and Patrick F. Flynn represented their siblings at a July 12 meeting with President Manuel A. Esteban. During the meeting, they presented a check for $50,000 and discussed their hopes for the scholarship.
“It is our fondest hope that the recipients of the scholarships, many of whom may be the first member of a family to attend college, will be leaders in their communities,” said Bernard Flynn.
Bernard and Patrick are the eldest of 11 living children of the Flynns. One brother, Vincent, died in a plane crash some years ago, and two siblings died as infants. Several members of the family live in the area: Steven lives in Chico; Jane, Vincent’s widow, continues to run the Flynn agricultural interests in Tehama County; Thomas is an ophthalmologist in Red Bluff and Orland; and Bernard, an alum of CSU, Chico, is the vice president of Sacramento River Partners in Chico. Patrick lives in Yorba Linda, Orange County.
The senior Flynn had been born to a poor family in Boston, but attended Boston Latin School and earned a degree in engineering from MIT. After working as an engineer in the oil industry, he bought a soap business in the Los Angeles area and became a successful businessman.
He was always interested in farming, and he and Miriam purchased several pieces of land in Tehama County. They came to the Sacramento Valley in 1947 as the owners of the Stanford Vina Ranch, now the Abbey of New Clairvaux.
“Our father was an extraordinary man with broad interests. He had 1,000 private charities. He was always ready to help someone,” said Patrick. At the time of their deaths, the senior Flynns were farming in Gerber.
The guidelines to the endowment state “the scholarship was created by their children in recognition of their parents’ concern for and support of farm workers.”
“This is the only scholarship specifically for the children of farm workers at the university and, perhaps, in Northern California,” noted Esteban. ” We are deeply appreciative of this endowment, which will affect some deserving students in very positive ways.”
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