HSU creates Wellington Endowment for music

Fondly remembered KHSU host leaves $185,000 for scholarships

Paul Mann, Humboldt State University
8/9/09

Arcata

Humboldt State University has established the Jean Wellington Endowment through a nearly $185,000 bequest from the late Jean Wellington, one of the Redwood Coast’s foremost proponents of classical music and an on-air mainstay of Humboldt State’s KHSU/KHSR for nearly two decades.

Income earned from the endowment will be split evenly between the C. Leland Barlow Music Scholarship, begun in 1983 and awarded to the Department of Music’s incoming majors, and the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop, launched in 1971, which provides young musicians with total immersion in chamber music.

The Barlow scholarship takes its name from a former faculty member who taught in HSU’s Department of Music for 36 years. The Sequoia workshop, sponsored by the Office of Extended Education, provides each participant with the opportunity to perform four times during each of two six-day summer sessions. Sequoia alumni have attended every major music school in the country and performed with ensembles ranging from Baltimore and Detroit to Utah and San Francisco.

Professor Eugene Novotney, chair of the Music Department Scholarship Committee and a collaborator with Wellington, said, “Our department is thrilled to be a recipient of this generous endowment. These funds will be used to assist talented young musicians realize their dreams of becoming music majors at Humboldt State.”

Multiple Barlow scholarships are awarded annually, usually five to eight, in amounts up to $1,000 per student.

David Filner, director of the Sequoia program, said the endowment will enable his organization “to continue to serve talented young musicians who travel from Humboldt County and the rest of the country to attend our workshop. This program provides a unique opportunity for students to experience chamber music in an intense, yet supportive environment. It has helped to inspire countless young musicians.”

Wellington, who died in mid-2007, was a former elementary school teacher and the host for close to two decades of a classical program, “A World of Music,” on KHSU-FM. He had many years of training and education in classical genres and hosted a big band program for many years. He also anchored a public affairs broadcast for seniors called “Sharetime.”

Afflicted with blindness, Wellington was a member of the Low Vision Support Group and wrote a monthly column titled “Insight” for the McKinleyville Press. He resided in McKinleyville.