By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

A joint effort between the daughters of the late Patti McNaught and the Geneseo Woman’s Club resulted in the first-ever Geneseo Woman’s Club Patti McNaught Memorial Music Scholarship.

Caroline Bergren, a graduate of Geneseo High School, is the first recipient of the scholarship. She will be a senior at Pacific Lutheran University, Parkland, WA, where she is majoring in music education with a secondary choral emphasis (BMS) and vocal performance (BM).

She credits her experiences in Geneseo schools as a significant factor in her decision to pursue a career in music education. Her future aspirations include teaching at the high school level, serving as a director of music education in a retirement community, and pursuing a doctoral degree in choral conducting or solo vocal literature.

Bergren is the daughter of Anne and Lendol Calder, Geneseo.

Patti McNaught was active in the Geneseo Woman’s Club for more than 50 years and when she died in November of last year, a member of the Woman’s Club spoke with McNaught’s daughters, Meredith McNaught and Robin McNaught Henson, about establishing a scholarship in their mother’s honor.

“Because Mom was involved in music education throughout her life, we decided to offer the scholarship to a graduate of Geneseo High School that had already completed at least two years of their college studies, declaring their major to be music education,”: Meredith McNaught explained. “We know there are many local scholarships available to the students as they graduate from high school. However, there are not nearly as many to apply for when you are in your junior or senior years of college. We know there are many expenses during college.”

She said it is the hope of her and her sister that her Mom’s memorial scholarship will offer a little bit of monetary assistance to a future music teacher.

The sisters put together a form and spread the word about the scholarship via face book…”Since Geneseo is such a wonderful music town, word spread fast as the information was shared over and over again,” she said. We were surprised and delighted to end up with six highly qualified applicants.”

In presenting the scholarship check to Caroline Bergren, Meredith McNaught shared that she and her sister were “very excited to present this to Caroline. Robin and I are touched to know that Mom’s memory and love for music will live on for many years.”

The Geneseo Woman’s Club intends to make the Patti McNaught Memorial Music Scholarship an annual scholarship.

During her years of involvement with the Geneseo Woman’s Club, Patti McNaught served as president of the local club and held different positions on the state board.

“Mom loved helping people,” Meredith McNaught said. “She worked on many different projects and one of the projects she helped to start was the Woman’s Club Garage Sale to benefit domestic abuse shelters. She hosted that sale at her house every year in June for 11 years, and then had to stop due to guidelines in place from Covid.”
This year, the sisters brought back the garage sale in memory of their Mom…”We had such a great turnout t that we have decided to continue the tradition for years to come,” McNaught said.

A second project Patti McNaught organized some years ago was tying and donating fleece blankets for children at various organizations…Meredith McNaught said, “From Operation Smile to Freedom House Domestic Abuse Shelter, Mom cut and tied several hundred blankets that were given to kids in need. In fact, we are still cutting, tying and distributing the final pieces of fleece that she had bought!”

Patti McNaught was an integral part of music in Geneseo for many years. She taught music at Millikin Grade School from 1969-1974, and during those five years, every sixth grader in the school district went through Millikin.

“Mom taught piano lessons at home for over 30 years. She accompanied the Geneseo Junior High and Middle School choirs for Pam Edwards and Marie Abel. Mom also would play for kids for solo and ensemble contest. She played at many weddings and funerals and would sometimes play for services at Grace United Methodist Church in Geneseo. She also was the accompanist at the Geneseo Music Festival Queen Pageant for many years.”