The long-time supporter\u2019s family donated $20,000 to establish the scholarship, which will pay tribute to Paquin\u2019s steadfast support in her final years.<\/p>\n
SAN MARCOS \u2014 Emma Paquin came to Palomar College late in life, and not as a student.<\/p>\n
Instead, the long-time educator and mother of five became part of the Palomar community as a supporter of the Palomar College Foundation, contributing nearly $250,000 over the years and establishing a scholarship in the name of her late husband, James H. Paquin.<\/p>\n
Now Emma Paquin, who passed away in 2020, will be remembered with an endowed scholarship of her own, following a $20,000 contribution by her family to establish the scholarship fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were so humbled and grateful for Emma\u2019s support while she was alive, and we are honored to remember her with an annual scholarship that will help our students pursue their dreams in the years to come,\u201d said Stacy Rungaitis, Executive Director of the Palomar College Foundation.<\/p>\n
Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey, Superintendent\/President of Palomar College, said that Paquin\u2019s legacy is already evident in the campus community.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma Paquin\u2019s generosity has already touched hundreds of lives, and will continue to make a positive difference for our students for the foreseeable future,\u201d said Dr. Rivera-Lacey.<\/p>\n
Kim Hartwell, the Foundation\u2019s Development Officer, recalled meeting Paquin in 2006 at Silvergate Retirement Residence in San Marcos.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe very much supported education, and throughout the years she learned a lot about Palomar,\u201d said Hartwell. \u201cShe loved everything about Palomar, and she helped us with scholarships and textbook assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPalomar made such an impact on Emma, she would talk about the Foundation and the college to her family all the time,\u201d Hartwell added. \u201cSo when she passed away, her family contacted us to say they wanted to set up a scholarship in Emma\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paquin\u2019s daughter, Nancy Johnston, confirmed Paquin\u2019s enthusiasm for the college: \u201cShe told me so many times over the last 10 years that establishing the scholarship in my father\u2019s name was the best thing she ever did in her life,\u201d said Johnston.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe graduated from Little Rock High School before it was integrated,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIt was a very conservative upbringing, and yet, after she became a mother of five, she went back to school at Pasadena City College, and the junior college experience was really what helped her get her education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paquin would go on to earn a master\u2019s degree in education and work as a teacher. She lived to the age of 97, and is survived by her five children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
In addition to the two memorial scholarships, the Paquins will be honored with the dedication of a room in the Library\/LRC at Palomar\u2019s San Marcos campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anybody deserves to be highlighted in the Palomar community, it\u2019s her,\u201d said Hartwell. \u201cShe made a difference in many students\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"