The Grace Fort Gouldsby Scholarship Foundation |
Grace Lee Fort Gouldsby, born in 1923 in Bowie County, Texas, attended Hooks public schools, graduating in 1941 and entered Bishop College in 1942.
She graduated in 1946 with a Bachelors degree. She did graduate work at Prairie View A&M University and East Texas State University, Commerce, Texas. Mrs. Gouldsby started her teaching career at Center Point Boarding High School, Pittsburgh, Texas, where she did her student teaching in 1946.
She accepted her first teaching assignment at Wynn High School in Garland City, Arkansas where she taught homemaking and coached girls’ athletics. During the various stages of her teaching career, in the colored school system and after integration, she taught Elementary, Junior High and High School. Areas of concentration included the head start program, remedial reading, home economics and Braille instruction. She was an active community leader and worked with children in the 4-H Club, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts (Den Mother) and was a dietician mother and extension agent.
Her family established the Grace Fort Gouldsby Scholarship Foundation, a non-profit corporation, on the occasion of her retirement from the teaching profession in June of 1989. It was a means of expressing their love and appreciation for Mrs. Gouldsby’s unsparing devotion to excellence in education.
The annual scholarship is awarded to a meritorious high school graduate to assist in furthering his/her education. The recipients of the award exhibit excellence in leadership and scholarship. The initial Scholarship Committee was selected by Mrs. Gouldsby, which was comprised of members of the community. Today, the Scholarship Committee is comprised of citizens from the community and board members determines awards. Over the years, many people have made generous contributions to the Foundation particularly during the period after Mrs. Gouldsby’s untimely death in 1991. Contributions are tax deductible and go directly into the Scholarship Foundation. The experience, energy and dedication that Grace Fort Gouldsby brought to the field of education greatly enriched our children, our community, and our overall quality of life, and the Scholarship Foundation is one way of continuing her life-long commitment to quality education and quality life.
The Foundation extends its sincere appreciation to the many patrons, fiends, and family members who have supported their efforts to assist these deserving young persons. The goal is to raise enough funds to ensure that the Grace Fort Gouldsby Scholarship Foundation will continue in perpetuity, and with your help we can make this goal a reality.
Click here to learn more about our scholarship.
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Meet the Board Members |
| Mattye Gouldsby Jones - President |
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Mattye is a Senior of Counsel attorney in the Affordable Housing and Real Estate sections of Coats Rose Yale Ryman & Lee, PC. She has nearly twenty years of experience to her clients and practices in the areas of affordable housing and community development where she is a lecturer and nationally recognized leader in affordable housing.
Born October 24, 1961, her parents are the late Rev. Isaac C. Gouldsby, Sr. and Grace Fort Gouldsby of Hooks, Texas. She attended Hooks High School where she was very active in various activities -- High School drum majorette, flutist, 4H Gold Star Girl and numerous UIL competitions. She attended the University of Texas in Austin on full scholarship where she was a member of the Longhorn Marching Band, Tau Beta Sigma and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. In 1984 she earned a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance. While attending the University Of Texas School Of Law, she was on the national committee of BLSA (Black Law Students of America) and a member of Phi Alpha Delta and Board of Advocates. She worked in the state legislature with the Business and Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives where her interest in politics and legislation was heightened. She studied comparative real property law at Magdelen College, Oxford University prior to earning a Juris Doctor Degree in 1988. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
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| Fritzi G. Woods - Treasurer |
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Fritzi G. Woods is an innovative, global and international leader committed to value creation for her customers, shareholders and the team she leads. She brings the unique blend of strategy, operations, financial expertise and corporate governance to the table. Since taking leadership as CEO and President of PrimeSource Foodservice Equipment, Inc. in May 2003, Ms. Woods has been instrumental in establishing strategies that have accelerated the company’s growth and diversified its customer base. With revenues of nearly 100 million dollars, PrimeSource is the 10th largest distributor in the industry. The company actively managed 374 restaurant openings last year and ships an average of 408 orders each day to support over 19,000 established restaurants in 49 countries.
Ms. Woods serves on both public, private equity advisory and community boards serving as chairman, chair of audit committee and a member of finance, governance and compensation committees. She currently serves on the boards of BUCA, Inc., Parkland Hospital Foundation, Lone Star New Markets, Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce and numerous other boards. Ms. Woods is married to her soul mate, Timothy Woods, and they have five children. |
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| Stephanie H. Blakely - Web Marketing |
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Stephanie Hearon Blakely is a Senior Manager for IBM for the Americas Web and Customer Set Marketing Team. She is responsible for leading a team of professionals who discover, create, populate, maintain, and manage content on the web. She provides leadership in driving solution/brand marketing and sales initiatives that help strengthen the IBM sales representatives’ consulting skills in an effort to increase IBM’s revenue.
In her 11 years with IBM, Stephanie has had a progressive career and has led and managed in positions that span Sales and Marketing. Prior to joining IBM, she was a Business Development Manager for an environment/civil engineering company and an Auditor for a Texas State agency.
Mrs. Blakely is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. She also holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Management from Dallas Baptist University.
Stephanie plays an active role with the Grace Fort Gouldsby Scholarship Foundation as the Web Marketing Chair. She resides in Frisco, Texas with her husband Steven Blakely and daughters Sloane and Skye. Stephanie has shown that hard work and dedication to academics has strong benefits to career development. |
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