Plymouth State University event raises more than $30,000 for student scholarships

PLYMOUTH — Plymouth State University and the Raymond Burton Legacy Fund recently recognized alumnus Wally Stevens with the 2022 Raymond S. Burton Public Service Award during an annual students, scholarships, and service event at The Barn on the Pemi.

This year’s students, scholarships, and service event (formerly the Burton-Frost event) raised $30,000 for Plymouth State University Alumni Association student scholarships and the Ray’s Angels fund, which support PSU students who experience tuition shortfalls and demonstrate financial need in closing the gap.

Stevens was a friend and contemporary of Burton, both graduating in the same Plymouth State cohort in 1962. Stevens stayed involved with PSU as one of the four founding members of its President’s Council, past Chair of the President’s Council and a Trustee to the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees.

During the event, which was held on June 2, Grappone Automotive Group President and CEO Larry Haynes and realtor Ken Moulton, both PSU alumni, past USNH Trustees and PSU President’s Council members, presented the award.

“In addition to being a classmate of Ray’s, I cannot think of anyone who more exemplifies Ray’s wonderful qualities than Wally Stevens,” Haynes said. “Wally has served Plymouth State University with compassion, intellect and an enthusiasm that continues to set the bar oh so high.”

Stevens and his wife Meredith Bristow Stevens live in Hampton Falls and Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Ray Burton was a long-serving member of the New Hampshire Executive Council and a North Country institution. The Raymond S. Burton Public Service Award honors individuals who, like Burton, loved and respected the role of education, cared deeply about the state and its citizenry, and devoted their service to the public good.