"The Renee Hall Ramsey Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund"

Dear Friends and Family,

The holiday season has finally ended, and life is moving back to this quasi norm that we have become familiar with in the last five months. Leah is going strong again. In fact, the good news is that she will shortly be ending her physical therapy sessions. Her strength has returned, her right arm has nearly a full range of motion, and she is back working full time for St. James.

Rachel is gaining strength daily as well. She still goes to PT/OT weekly, and is becoming a familiar face to the whole staff. In fact, she drove herself to therapy the other day, and let one of her physical therapist know that on her way in to see her ankle orthopedist. By the time she made it back to Physical Therapy the word had spread throughout the facility that she was driving. They all cheer for her daily.

On Thursday, Rachel goes in for out-patient surgery on her right shoulder. She has what the physicians colloquially call a “frozen shoulder”. They will do arthroscopic surgery and make four incisions then remove and scar tissue or impediments to her moving the humorous head in the socket. Then Friday, she goes back to PT and starts working hard at keeping that arm and shoulder working. And, so our life goes on!

Many of you have asked about a memorial for Renee, and I have been remiss in passing along the information on her memorial in the most conducive method possible; ie.. this blog site. Zack’s mother, Jane, and Renee’s friend Paige put a lot of work into getting a memorial scholarship set up with Oklahoma State University. The fund will be called "The Renee Hall Ramsey Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund". The goal is to give an out-of-state violinist scholarship assistance to attend OSU. Renee attended OSU for her bachelor’s degree completely on scholarships. She then finished her Master Degree in violin pedagogy at Texas Tech University, again almost completely on scholarships. The fund is intended to provide the same assistance to violinists on a self perpetuating basis long after all of us are off celebrating with Renee in another life.

If you wish to participate, you may send a check to The OSU Foundation, 400 South Monroe, Stillwater, OK 74074. Make the check out to The OSU Foundation, and in the memo line "The Renee Hall Ramsey Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund" Equity Number 2289600. The OSU Foundation will mail you a Tax Receipt and a Thank you note. They will also let Zach know who has made contributions. For those of you whom have already contributed, and those whom plan to contribute in the future, my entire family can not say “Thank you” enough.

Jay, Renee, Britanie, Leah and Zach’s Dad