The Wilderness Education Association is dedicated to professionalizing the field of Outdoor Leadership and is likewise dedicated to the individuals pursuing work in this field. The WEA Scholarships are funded in full by the profits garnered from the annual auction and raffle held on at the
National Conference on Outdoor Leadership. Outdoor clothing, equipment, instructional materials and scholarships are donated by leading manufacturers and retial stores. Each item is auctioned or raffled to raise funds for the following Scholarships. Monies raised during the event are placed in a fund with the interest to be used for scholarships each year. Additional donations may be made throughout the year. Please contact the WEA National Office if you would like to make a tax deductible donation to this fund.
Kitty Drury Scholarship - A professional development scholarship for future WEA Instructors
Kitty, the mother of former WEA President Jack Drury, was born in Providence, RI in 1916 and grew up between Kikamuet, RI and Cataumet, Cape Cod, MA. She was an All-American Sailor and graduated from Wellesley College. Her true passion however was Newfoundland Dogs and she got her first dog at the age of 12. She became a nationally renowned breeder of Newfoundlands along with her husband Maynard through their Dryad Kennels. There were five children in the Drury family and they were all exposed to the dog show culture and the out of doors at early ages. Various family members would pile into the family station wagon along with three or four Newfoundlands and travel the weekend dog show circuit throughout the northeast. Summers on the other hand were spent traveling from Long Island (and later the northern Finger Lakes) to the Adirondacks to go motorboat camping on Lower Saranac Lake. Some summers were spent car camping throughout New England into Canada as far north as the Province of Newfoundland. It was these various camping treks that initiated Jack to the outdoors and provide the foundation for his love of the wilderness.
Kitty became arguably the world’s number one authority on Newfoundland dogs but when her husband died at an early age she made a transition from raising dogs to judging them. Her home base became Saranac Lake, NY and she spent 40 weekends a year traveling around the world judging dogs. She specialized in working breeds but became a world renowned judge of virtually all breeds. In 1984 she was the Best in Show judge at the distinguished Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. As luck would have it a Newfoundland dog had won the working group and she selected the Newfoundland “Black Beard” as “Best In Show”.
She loved the outdoors and especially loved hosting her numerous grandchildren at her home on the shores of Lower Saranac Lake. She died suddenly in an auto accident in 1988 just after the Wilderness Education Association had relocated to North Country Community College in Saranac Lake, NY. The Kitty Drury Scholarship Fund was created in her memory.
[Photos courtesy of the Drury Family]
Kitty Drury Scholarship Recipients
2009
- Lauren Barnes
- Joshua Sheehan
- Gregory Paninski
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