NEW GLOUCESTER – Four families who lost their young adult children in accidents in the 1990s have connected their personal tragedies to plan a memorial scholarship benefit dance for the sixth time.
The teens who died in separate accidents – James Bonney, Shannon Davison, Danylle Doyle and Byron Gouzie – all graduated from Gray-New Gloucester High School. They each had strong connections to their community and classmates, and their families are working to honor that connection with scholarships to aid graduates in their education.
Don and Cheryl Doyle with their son, Scott, recently hosted the annual planning event for the annual Memorial Scholarship Benefit Dance, organizing the sixth such fund-raiser to help SAD 15 students.
The families of each of the deceased students is active in the scholarship awards, choosing the recipient of the scholarship in their respective family member’s name.
Roughly $25,000 in scholarship money has been awarded to date.
Bonnie and Roland Gouzie, whose son Byron, graduated from Gray-New Gloucester High School in 1995, was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design when he died in a car accident during a visit home. Each year, the Gouzies ask the recipient who is awarded the scholarship in Byron’s name to travel to their home in Portland, where they maintain a memory book and pictures of each recipient in honor of their son, a scholar athlete and president of his class. Bryon’s artwork is also shared during these visits.
Danylle Doyle, Byron’s classmate, also graduated in 1995 and her scholarship was initiated by the staff at Gray-New Gloucester High School.
Cheryl Doyle talks about how she and her husband, Dan, choose a recipient. “I go by how my children were in school, and am looking for the B and C student and I look at attendance.”
The first recipient of the Danylle Doyle scholarship was Shannon Davison.
Davison died in a two-car accident several years later, on Christmas Eve in 1998, in Massachusetts. She had been attending the University of Maine at Presque Isle and had been planning a career in public education.
James Bonney, who graduated from Husson College in 1995, died the day after his college graduation.
His father, Bill Bonney, explained that the families’ combined scholarship efforts are a “way for us to turn something negative into something positive. It feels good to give. All our kids were giving and wanted to help and this is a way to give back.”
James’ mother, Ruthanne Bonney, agreed, explaining “our kids aren’t allowed to be part of the community anymore, this allows us to keep in touch.”
“We have to find a way to survive,” Bonnie Gouzie said, and by “honoring their memory, their lives were not useless. They made an impact on everyone’s life when they were here.”
Tickets are available at Contour in the Gray Plaza: in advance, tickets are $15 single/$25 couple; at the door, $20 single/$30 couple. An auction and raffle will be held during the evening.
Brad and Peggy Polland, who own Spring Meadows Country Club, have donated the hall space for the event.
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