Putnam: State retiree helps St. Johns college student with lupus get full scholarship

Lansing State Journal

With " Stanley" one of her family's four dogs at her side Margaret Burnham, 20, from St. Johns, talks March 14, 2018 about how she wrote an essay that she thought won her a $1,000 Mint Festival Scholarship. She received half because of a residency issue.

Recently retired state employee Tom Shively from East Lansing made good on the other half of the Mint Festival scholarship given to Margaret Burnham of St. Johns.

Burnham, 20, and the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce, which operates the popular Mint Festival, disagreed over her qualifications for the scholarship.

She was living in Illinois at the time she applied in 2015. Scholarship officials said the award is for those living in Clinton County.

Her family was in the process of moving to a house on the family farm in St. Johns but delayed the move while Burnham underwent chemotherapy for lupus.

She was given $500 instead of the traditional $1,000 delivered to some other scholarship winners. After a column about the dispute ran Tuesday, Shively called to say he would help.

“I’d like to give her $500,” Shively said. “It would make me feel good, and I know it would make her feel good."

Shively, also known as "Treasure Tom" for his metal detecting hobby, said he thought it was important that Burnham get the full scholarship. I first spoke with Shively in 2016 when he helped a young widow find her wedding ring that was lost in her front yard.

Shively sent the gift to Burnham Tuesday.

"It sounded like she got a little bit short-changed," Shively said. "I wanted to make sure she got the full scholarship to start her off on the right foot."

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on twitter @judyputnam.