Land trust honors trustee with endowmentWhen Richard Dumouchel died in 1999 at the age of 58, his family asked that memorial contributions be sent to the Weekapaug Foundation for Conservation, a land trust in Westerly on which he had served as a trustee. When the foundation realized that nearly $25,000 had been raised, they decided to establish a scholarship in Dumouchel’s name.
The Richard A. Dumouchel Endowed Scholarship will provide an annual scholarship to a deserving student in the URI Department of Natural Resources Science.
“The foundation hired the Natural Resources Science department for a two-year study to do an inventory of all the flora and fauna on its properties, and the 70-page report they delivered is full of very interesting information,” explained Lillias Lane, executive director of the foundation, who worked closely on the inventory with URI Associate Professor Peter Paton and his wife Suzanne, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“When we were trying to decide what to do to suitably honor Dick Dumouchel, Bill Lane, one of our trustees, thought of a URI scholarship. It’s a living tribute to Dick, we can announce the recipient every year at our annual meeting, and it will help to create expertise in an area that ties into our goals of protecting biodiversity.”
Dumouchel was the president of the Attleboro-based Artcraft Company, Inc., one of the oldest stationery engraving companies in New England. According to Lane, he was “very community-minded, a most enthusiastic trustee, and committed to supporting our mission. His family has also been very supportive.”
Founded in 1989, the Weekapaug Foundation for Conservation is committed to preserving open space in the vicinity of the Quonochontaug and Winnapaug Pond watersheds in Westerly. The organization has already protected over 1,000 acres of land.
“We’re a group of concerned citizens that feel that the open space around these pond communities, which are beautiful and fragile, should be preserved,” said Lane. “Weekapaug has a long history of prominent citizens who took the bull by the horns to save various notable pieces of property, starting as far back as 1938.”
It’s unusual for a non-profit group like the Weekapaug Foundation to establish an endowed scholarship, according to Katherine Horoschak, senior development officer for the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences. “But this scholarship shows their considerable commitment to protecting the environment over the long term, while also honoring one of their own. We are deeply appreciative of the generosity of the foundation and all the friends of Dick Dumouchel who contributed to it.”
By Todd McLeish
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