Rena Urie Fowler Memorial Scholarship

Rena Urie Fowler was born in Rock Hall, Kent County, Maryland in 1918 to a family of watermen. Relatives also built boats, sold oysters, and made decoys—all work tied to the Chesapeake Bay where they had lived for generations. Her Grandmother Ayers had turned her home into a boarding house upon the early death of her husband. When Rena’s own father died during her childhood, Mary Urie moved to Baltimore for greater opportunity. As Rena grew up, she felt the importance of education, not only for a career but the quality of a life; however, she struggled to pursue both school and work. In time, she married, had a child, and made a new home in distant Colorado. Still, she regularly visited Rock Hall and surrounded herself with symbols of the Bay. Looking back, she sought a way to offer the youth of the region she so loved with the education she had so desired. A scholarship to support students at Salisbury University fulfills that aim.